Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday that China pursues a defensive
national defense policy and its military expenditure is at a very
low level in the world.
"China is at a very low both in aggregated terms or relative
terms of the quantity of armed forces and military spending,
compared with the developed countries and even some developing
countries," the premier told reporters at a press conference after
the conclusion of the parliament annual session.
China is a country with a territory of 9.6 million square
kilometers and a population of 1.3 billion people. It also has 22,
000-km-long land boundary and 18,000-km-long marine boundary, he
said.
After the opium war in the 1840s, the Chinese people had been
subject to aggression and oppression by imperialist powers. The
Chinese nation knows fully well the tremendous sufferings of being
enslaved and subject to foreign aggression, said the premier,
adding, "We are most sincere in our commitment to peaceful
development."
"We have a defense policy that is defensive in nature. The
limited arm forces that China has are completely serving the
purpose for safeguarding the country's security, independence and
sovereignty. On this matter, we are completely transparent."
On the recent anti-satellite test Chinese scientists conducted,
Wen said, China targets or threatens no other country and breaches
no international treaties.
"China advocates the peaceful use of outer space and opposes
arms race in outer space," he said, adding that the position
remains unchanged.
Wen also called on countries concerned to sign international
conventions on the peaceful utilization of outer space as soon as
possible.
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)