Spokesman rebuts 'China threat' theory
( 2002-07-23 09:06 ) (8 )

Rebuking recent US government reports characterizing China 's economic growth as a potential threat to the US and global security, a senior Chinese diplomat said Monday that the nation doesn't intend to pose any military threat to the US or the world.

Xie Feng, press counselor of the Chinese Embassy in US pointed out that China's defense budget is the lowest among all the major countries in the world.

"Our military budget spending is one nineteenth of the United States ' and one half of Japan 's," Xie told a press briefing. "I don't think China will pose a military threat to any country" even if the nation's economy keeps growing rapidly.

Xie's remarks followed the two recently-published US government reports - one by the Defense Department and the other by a Congressional commission - blowing up the "China threat" theory. The reports cautioned against a possible 'security threat' resulting from China 's fast economic growth.

"China is still a developing country" in terms of per capita income, Xie said. "So our basic national policy is to continue concentrating on economic construction so as to further raise our living standard."

He also warned against US government's taking tougher trade and investment policies against China.

"We're opposed to the US government using economic means to pressure China ," Xie said. Since the trade benefits not only China but also the US , he said, " We hope the US government will strictly abide by the (world trade) norms to reject the proposals" made by the report.

The so-call "China threat" theory is really not something new, Xie noted. Whenever Sino-US relations reaped some progress, then some people who cling to the Cold War mentality would come back and blow up this theory, he said.

"The threat to Sino-US relations and the threat to world peace doesn't lie in China, but rather in these people who have fabricated this China threat," he said.

Also, Xie protested against US sales of weapons to Taiwan .

Selling arms to Taiwan is a violation of the One China Principle agreed to by the US and China and constitutes "an infringement of the Chinese sovereignty," Xie said.