A senior Chinese military official visiting the US said that his country’s defense modernization is part of a defensive policy and not aimed at seeking regional or global hegemony but to safeguard the rapid development his country has gone through. Speaking at the US National Defense University, Vice-Chairman of Central Military Commission General Guo Boxiong said that the controversial defense modernization program will also help maintain peace and stability in the region and the world as a whole.
Boxiong reiterated his country’s cultural and historical traditions coupled with national realities and modern trends to seek peaceful development and not a colonization approach. He maintained that the armed forces of the US and China share several common objectives such as fighting terrorism, preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, protecting the environment, and resisting transnational crimes and called more exchanges and cooperation.
Boxiong’s speech is good rhetoric and makes good sound bites but is far removed from its actions on the ground. It continuously proliferate nuclear technology and weapons of mass destruction to Pakistan and has a disastrous environmental protection record. It also maintains aggressive postures by creating a string of naval bases in the Indian Ocean, listening post off Myanmar, and along the Straits of Gwadar near the Suez Canal. It does not contribute to fighting terrorism nor makes any efforts to fight transnational crime.
