Top Chinese diplomat tells US to 'shut up' on arms spending

LONDON AFP 17/08/2006 17:50


China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, throwing diplomatic language to the wind, has told the United States in no uncertain terms to "shut up and keep quiet" on the subject of Beijing's growing military spending.

Interviewed for a BBC radio programme on the topic Thursday, Sha Zukang also said China would "do the business" and sacrifice its own people's lives if any nation supported a declaration of independence by Taiwan.

Responding to jitters within the Bush administration about Beijing's spiraling military budget, Sha said the United States itself accounts for half of the entire world's military spending.

"The China population is six times or five times that of the United States," he said. "Why blame China?... It's better for the US to shut up and keep quiet. It's much, much better."

His voice rising, Sha continued: "It's the US's sovereign right to do whatever they deem good for them -- but don't tell us what is good for China. Thank you very much!"

Sha was equally explicit on Taiwan declaring independence with US backing -- a prospect that the BBC programme, by former Beijing correspondent Carrie Gracie, called the motivating factor behind Chinese military spending.

"The moment Taiwan declares independence, supported by whoever, China will have no choice," he said.

"We will do the business through whatever means available to my government. Nobody should have any illusions on that. We will do the business at any cost."

He added: "It's not a matter of how big Taiwan is, but for China, one inch of the territory is more valuable than the life of our people. We will never concede on that."

China's rising military spending, which has grown by double digits for much of the last 15 years, has caused concern in the United States and amongst China's neighbors in Asia.

In March the National People's Congress (parliament), largely a rubber-stamp for decisions taken at the top level of the Chinese Communist Party, approved a 14.7-percent increase in military spending to 35 billion dollars (27 billion euros) this year.

Although this is paltry compared to the 419 billion dollar (325 billion euro) US defense budget in 2006, the Pentagon last year estimated that China's defense spending was two to three times the publicly announced figure.

In a speech in Beijing in July, Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan said modernization of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) remained a priority, the China News Service reported.

"The entire military must eye the historic destiny of China's military in the new century and new era and push forward the main line of a Chinese-style revolution in military affairs," he was quoted as saying.

He added: "We must unswervingly fulfill our sacred duty to defend state sovereignty, territorial integrity and security and never tolerate Taiwan independence and never permit Taiwan independence forces under any name or under any circumstances or form to split Taiwan from the motherland."

all i say loote is not to see top 100 universities in the world but see the number of US universities which is like a wild uncontrolled mushroom. Yeah it is right 20-30 universitties in top 100 doesnot mean anything when everybody knows that there are truckloads of pathetic, poor quality university in US.

and loote your comparision of soviet union with china is not right. China has the strength of population. We all know how china has brought the japanese market down. Who knows china at the moment may be even stronger than US in armed forces purely because of the number of soldiers china have can easliy inundate any country's defence.

China are improving leaps and bounds in every field. A country that first took part in olympics in 1984 (just an infant comparing the history of oympic) has got 32 gold medals in athens compared to 35. When i first watched olympic in 1992 china won just ten golds.Thats a huge improvement. One would have never thought china could beat USA in sprinting (with hurdles) which was once american game. We also saw china winning one gold in tennis. We have seen china started organising formula one in recent past. We will see china organishing olympics soon in which they are sure to lead the tally of gold medals.

What else china is good at. All the american and european companies sees china is a good market place which is virtually unexploited. We all know how china can produce goods for so cheap electronics good that we dont have to depend on expnesive american and japanese products. and whats more this chinese products are still very good.

China can now face USA eyeball to eyeball and even challange them and tell them to shut up. china has already dented american pride two year ago when they bombed their one of the most cherised spying plane which america was so proud of and always used to say nobody can detect that. The US EP3-C turboprop, a plane about the size of a Boeing 737 jetliner, crossed paths with two Chinese air defense jets while it was engaged in electronic spying southeast of the island of Hainan, China's southernmost province. The EP3 was monitoring Chinese military communications, while the two jets were monitoring it, in an exercise in mutual surveillance that was a staple of the Cold War and still continues between the United States and China.

Bidhan,
i don't deny that not all US universities are par excellence. but it should be understood that most of the breakthroughs in science and technology come from US universities. i am not just talking about MIT and Stanford, but there are number of others (even second and third tier unis) where cutting edge research activities are carried out. If we go by average amount of research work per year, US will bit other countries.

As for your second query, interesting fact you pointed out about the strength of China in Olympics but i am not sure how much that is gonna boost their economy and/or their bilateral relatioships with other countries. When i compared China with former soviet union, i meant to juxtapose their internal market and foreign policies. China is a power no doubt. But we are talking about "China being a threat to US". i don't see that happening coz as i explained, in the event of war, EU and India will back US...which means its literally china vs. rest of the world.

As haddock said, china may losen up and come out as a democratic country over time. but that will put more responsibility on their shoulders to maintain bilateral trade relationships with other countries and for sure they cannot rule out US in that event. Economic prosperity cannot be sustainable with a secluded market.

LooTe

america has been making new enemies with all its foreign policies.What i see is US success is like balloon which can sustain till certain limit but sooner or later it has to brust.

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2005/02/china_on_course.html

( full story at http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2005/02/china_on_course.html)

bidhan 40 - go to bed ke!! it's late ni. ufffff!! :P :P

nails come to msn k . nindrai lagena

Looks like i missed a good discussion. Captain Haddock, u called me sarcastic for calling white ppl the leaders and the rest followers. U seem to have some depth knowledge on the subject matter so i'm gonna ask u few questions. Help me understand those things. If whites arent the supreme humans,
why are most scientific inventions of the world done by the whites?

Why arent there any white country with civil war?

why were whites the only race to colonize the world?

why were the things that whites practice being called civilization?

why is civilization called something that is in par with what whites do?

Why are most non whites in this world trying so hard to do what whites are already doing?

Why is there so much white influence in this world? Why is it that the whites keep coming up with new ideas of colonizing the world(economic colonization that US practices)?

Why was it that it was only whites who came up with different political theories such as socialism, capitalism, and fasism?


So im just trying to understand what is the real reason behind all these things. It must be because whites are just damn smart, thus they are so much ahead of the rest. When Darwin put forward his survival of the fittest and struggle for existance theory, i think it applies great on whites. They are here to survive and rule the rest because of their dominant race that overpowers rest of the other races.

whoever replies to my above thread, pls keep in mind that i want scientific logical answers, i dont really care about emotional "love who u r" kind of replies. NO EMOTIONS!!!!!

why are most scientific inventions of the world done by the whites?
What do u mean by scientific invention, Well i judge invention by number and quality of scientific papers published in reputed journals. Have a look at journal these days
more than half of them are either published by indians or chinese.

Why arent there any white country with civil war?
Well there were till just recent past like sarajevo, bosnia herzgovina etc and there
are plenty around in russia. If u count general crime as part of civil war then whites
arrent too back.

why were whites the only race to colonize the world?
Hmm u should really read the history

why were the things that whites practice being called civilization?
History again.

why is civilization called something that is in par with what whites do?
Man u really should read history.

Why are most non whites in this world trying so hard to do what whites are already doing?
Mmm like what, get divorced?

Why is there so much white influence in this world? Why is it that the whites keep coming up with new ideas of colonizing the world(economic colonization that US practices)?
Thats cause they are so many. Everybody talks about chinese population. Ever thought about white population?

Why was it that it was only whites who came up with different political theories such as socialism, capitalism, and fasism?
Hmm who came up with stuff like confuciousism, Kautilya Arthashastra, Vedas thousands of years before whites.
so sidster take no offecne research before u post.

hmm.. what do you mean read the history??-mongols?
go and read the history yourself!!!
you don't even have to read history..this world is still under white power!!!

why are mongols white??

Mongols white...are you kidding...aren't they like chinese...they are asian....

I knew someone would post answer like Divdude did .....that is why i specifically said NO EMOTIONS!!! i am still waiting for Cap. Haddock to answer, he will probably have some answers with some weight...he he ...i had some serious questions and dude's answer for me was " read history" there are indeed some funny ppl in sajha.

"confuciousism, Kautilya Arthashastra, Vedas thousands of years before whites" dude i know all this...thats exactly what my question was too. Regardless of those theories and its history do u see anyone practicing it. Im sure u urself dont follow any of those "paths". U are probably too busy wishing for a newer car and hotter woman.

AGAIN I AM STILL WAITING WAITING FOR REAL ANSWERS AND PLS NO EMOTIONS HERE. I AM NOT CHALLANGING ANYONE. I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT OTHER PPL WHO USE LOGIC NOT EMOTIONS THINK AOUT THIS ISSUE.

sidster argument looks so feeble and seems like he has the slavery attitude to whites. time is changing and so is the change of power.

and about your inventions and everything, china is able to do what japan and US havenot? they are able to produce goods and equipments for unbelievable cheap prices.

and it seems like sidster did not do enough research before saying whites are the only one who invented everything. let me name the few. Otis Boykin who developed a improved resistor. without resistor no electronics equipment would be possible (be it tv, computer or anything), charles brookes who invented truck, phil brookes invented syringe (think about immunization and all the diseases, where we would be without syringe), marie brown invented video survillience system, Benjamin carson was pioneer of surgery technology, john cristian made lubricants that is used in NASA techonology, Philip Emeagwali made fastest SUPERCOMPUTER in the world, Meredith C. Gourdine invented electrondynamics sytem, fedrick jones made automatic refrigeration system, Percy Lavon Julian invented medicine for arthritis, garett morgan invented traffic singal controller, Cordell Reed invented nuclear electric power, henry sampson invented imrproved gamma electric cell, Andrew Jackson Beard invented railroad car coupler and a rotary engine, Granville Woods invented improvements to electric railways, air brakes, the telephone and the telegraph. He invented a chicken egg incubator and an apparatus for an amusement park ride. This list can just go on and on and on i can list plenty more. and remember all these scientist were non white.

power has never been constant. It was britian then germany then US and with current trend it will be china where power will shift to Asia.

bidhan, my point exactly, all these inventions u listed are just modifications of white's inventions. Thats what i meant when i said, there are some non whites who know everything within the circle but only white can think outside of circle. I am talking about person who invented electricity, not a damn resistor, i am talking about someone who invented engine not a damn truck, someone who iinvented TV not a damn survailance, someone who invented Radio not an advanced cd palyer. I dont deny the fact that there are major intellectuals that are non whites who have enhanced in great on what whites have created. I am talking about creativity,originality, thinking outside of the box type.

sidster you are loosing the way here. Your original questions were are/were non whites
good for anything and turns out they are. At the moment whites might be really prevailant
but that is changing. See the old theories developed by asians might not be used nowa
days but they had in them to discover them before anyone else. Whites have been influential only after post renassiance period. Dude everyone has their time.
Why did asians remain behind then, thats exactly why UK are behind US. There is strange
life cycle of each civilization. Much like life cycle of human beings. It starts small, and it grows big and strong and as the age catches it slowly fades away. It has been true for all major known civilizations like Indus valley,Egyptian,Greek,Roman,Chinese,Incas,Mayas all of them.
Now it is US and in the future its gonna be some one else.
Anyway the way u think is the obvious way to think. Because you are basically surrounded by masses of facts present at the moment. And by the way no one can invent electricity it can be only discovered.
If u talk about discoveries, who discovered concept of zero? Obvioiusly that is
pretty important to go forward in mathematics. And what about algebra, alchemy etc.
So its time u start to think out of the box instead of just accepting the facts fed to
you. And if you feel you are so incompetent compared to whites u I assure you , you
can do better. And i really have nothing against whites, as a matter of fact i am going
out with a white girl. But it doesnt meant u can take anything away from the fact
what other people did or doing.

Scientific discoveries and inventions seem to be the measurement for superiority for sidster. Yes the western civilization broke away from religion in search for scientific reasons more and ahead of other civilizations. But that still does not prove that most of the discoveries and inventions are led by westerners. There are many ancient hindu temples and scriptures in India that depict sun god in the center of other gods. People at that time were already aware that sun is the center of our solar system way before anyone in west had actually discovered. Moreover, the concept of zero and Algebra was brought by Arabs. Most of the medical discoveries were brought by Egyptians. The idea of mind and body as one, the yoga and meditation practices which are very popular in west these days were not brought by westerners. And the list goes on. The only difference which I have already mentioned before between western civilization and others was aggression. While most of the other civilizations were content and passive, west tried to dominate, conquer and colonize. And this helped them force their ideas on to others. And this is exactly what is still happening at present. Why do you think most of the popular culture, TV programs, products from west are taking up grounds in other places?
Yes, one thing I will agree with sidster is on "democracy." It was a western concept of individualism and freedom which was very attractive to people from other civilizations who were basically suppressed politically or culturally. And today due to military might American seems to be leading the western culture showing other what capitalism and money can do. It looks lucrative but it is very problematic. There are more depressed people in west than in east. Capitalism breeds competition and competition breeds high hopes and expectations which breeds more failure which in turn breed depression and misery. Now you tell me what kind of progress is this?
And talking about wars, west has been involved in major wars in human history more than any other regions. Is this a progress in civilization?

Before whites, it was Asians. The science of navigation was originally developed in China. The effects of magnetism was best understood by the Chinese. About agriculture one are still better than the Asians. About the astronomy none knew it better than the Asians, especially the Indians (well ancient Indians). You talk about bombs ... they were first developed by Chinese.

You probably may not know how the Eurpeans counted... XXX, XIV, III
Now they count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 0. Needless to say, these were originally from India then they went to Arabs etc. The tools of mathematics is the biggest invention of all time.

I just want to say what Sir Isaac Newton said, "If I could see further, it was because I was standing on the shoulders of Giants."

So it is best to say humans from different parts of the world helped each other. Yes, from 16th century onward, the Eurpeans have been dominant. But I guess not anymore now.

divdude and hurray,

I dont deny the fact that there were other civilizations that started way before white civilization did. Every time u guys respond u keep supporting my theory. divdude, ur UK and US analysis is baseless, did u read my question? i said whites, not UK, US, Greeks, Romans,they all come under one umbrella of whites. I agree on the cycle of power. US will probably be no longer the ultimate power in this world forever. But i know for sure that it will be another white in power. Im thinking of EU. If china or india does come up against US or whites cos of some miracle then there will be a greater alliance of US and rest of the whites to dominate the world again.

I think u guys dont understand what i am trying to say. I am talking about the dominance, not greatness. I dont deny that non whites are greater being than whites in terms of what is wrong and what is right but i am specifically talking about dominance. for example : male dominance over females, lion's dominance in the jungle, father's dominance over his children and such. Dominance in a scientific terms, i am not talking about the dominance and supramacy of KKK, i am talking about the dominance that Darwin talked about. The survival of the fittest and the struggle for existance kind of dominance.