【英语中国】美报告批评中国军力“不透明”

China’s reluctance to come clean about the scope of its military activities increases the risk of misunderstandings in a highly charged part of the world, the Pentagon has argued.

In its annual report to Congress on China’s military and security developments, the US defence department also notes a steady increase in Beijing’s military capabilities, including hundreds of missiles in the Taiwan strait.

While Beijing announced in March a military budget of $78.6bn (￡50.2bn) – the latest in 20 years of annual increases – the Pentagon estimates China’s total military-related spending for 2009 at more than $150bn.

“The limited transparency in China’s military and security affairs en-hances uncertainty and increases the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation,” the report says, in a seeming allusion to the risk of confrontation. While the People’s Liberation Army has made “modest” improvements in this respect, “many uncertainties remain regarding how China will use its expanding military capabilities”.

The Obama administration has been pushing China to boost mutual understanding by permitting more military-to-military contact, which Beijing largely put on hold in the wake of the US announcement in January of $6.4bn in arms sales to Taiwan.

Despite prodding by President Barack Obama for Beijing to do so, it has yet to extend an invitation this year for Robert Gates, US defence secretary, to visit.

Last month, bilateral relations appeared to sour further when China responded angrily to a suggestion by Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, that Washington could help resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Many in Beijing saw her words as an effort to unite other regional powers against China.

The report welcomes China’s increased contributions to international peacekeeping and humanitarian and anti-piracy drives, which have been largely made possible by its greater ability to project power at a distance. In other contexts, this ability, although limited, causes the US concern.

The Pentagon notes that, while relations with Taiwan have improved, by December last year China had more than 1,000 short-range missiles opposite the island and was “upgrading the lethality of this force”.

It says nationalist, demographic, regional and other pressures could jeopardise China’s decision to allow its economy to develop by “managing” external tensions at least until 2020.

It says China has the world’s “most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile programme” and is modernising nuclear forces.

It adds that the PLA’s navy has the largest force of fighting ships in Asia, with more than 60 submarines, 55 medium and large amphibious vessels and roughly 85 missile-equipped patrol craft. Its ground forces number 1.25m, with about a third of them stationed in the three military regions opposite Taiwan.

美国五角大楼(Pentagon)表示，由于中国不愿增加其军事活动的透明度，在一个形势本已高度紧张的地区，出现“误解”的风险有所增加。

在向国会提交的一份有关中国军事与安全发展的年度报告中，美国国防部还指出，中国的军事力量正稳步增强，包括在台湾海峡附近部署的数百枚导弹。

今年3月，中国政府宣布本年度军费预算为786亿美元，连续第20年出现增长。但根据五角大楼的估算，2009年中国的军事相关开支超过1500亿美元。

五角大楼报告称:“中国军事与安全事务的透明度有限，增加了不确定性，也加大了出现错误理解和错误估计的可能。”这似乎是在暗指发生地区冲突的风险。报告称，尽管中国人民解放军在提高透明度方面已取得“些许”改进，“但在中国将如何运用不断壮大的军事力量方面，依然存在许多不确定性”。

奥巴马政府一直在敦促中国政府允许两国军方增加接触，从而加强双方之间的了解。自今年1月份美国宣布64亿美元对台军售以来，北京方面已基本停止了这种接触。

尽管美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)曾敦促中国政府向美国国防部长罗伯特?盖茨(Robert Gates)发出访问邀请，但北京方面今年至今尚未这么做。

上个月，中美关系似乎进一步趋紧——当美国国务卿希拉里?克林顿(Hillary Clinton)表示美国政府可以帮助解决南海领土争端问题时，中国政府进行了尖锐回应。中国政府中不少人认为，希拉里这番言论意在联合其它邻国反对中国。

五角大楼的最新报告对中国在国际维和行动、人道主义援助以及打击海盗方面所作的更多贡献表示欢迎。这些行动得以实现，很大程度上是因为中国远距离展示武力能力的提高。但从其它角度看，这种能力（尽管有限）引起了美国的担忧。

五角大楼指出，尽管与台湾关系有所改善，但截至去年12月份，中国大陆在台海对面部署了逾千枚短程导弹，并且“提高了这种导弹的杀伤力”。

五角大楼称，中国国内的民族主义情绪以及人口、地区和其它压力，可能会让中国改变此前的起码在2020年前通过“管理”外部紧张关系来发展经济的决定。

报告称，中国拥有世界上“最活跃的陆基弹道和巡航导弹项目”，并且正对其核武器进行现代化改造。

该报告补充称，中国海军拥有亚洲最大的战舰群，拥有逾60艘潜艇、55艘大、中型两栖潜艇和大约85艘装备导弹的护卫舰。中国陆军人数达到125万人，其中大约三分之一驻扎在台海对面的三大军区。