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July 20, 2005
PRC power
The Pentagon has issued its long-awaited report on China's military capabilities. Its conclusion: China is building up its military. No surprise there.
I haven't looked at the report too closely yet, but I'm sure there is much in it that will serve as natural fodder for China vilifiers and fear-mongerers. Still, it seems that the Pentagon was attempting to strike a realistic tone in releasing the report:
At the Pentagon on Wednesday, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said that although China's military might is growing he sees no reason to think that Beijing is interested in starting a war.
"You judge military threat in two ways: one, capacity and two, intent. There's lots of countries in the world that have the capacity to wage war," Pace said. "Very few have the intent to do so. Clearly, we have a complex but good relationship with China, so there's absolutely no reason for us to believe there's any intent on their part."
Can't really argue with that reasoning. No matter how it's used, I'm certain that the Pentagon's report makes for very interesting reading. If anything in particular catches my eye, I'll mention it here.
Posted by Daniel Widome at 03:23 PM to Asia
