China Says US Spends Too Much on Military

[Feuer Frei!]

Looks like he's got a point.

The United States is spending too much on its military in light of its recent economic troubles, China's top general said Monday while playing down his country's own military capabilities.The chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, Chen Bingde, told reporters he thought the U.S. should cut back on defense spending for the sake of its taxpayers. He was speaking during a joint news conference in which he traded barbs with visiting U.S. counterpart Adm. Mike Mullen.
"I know the U.S. is still recovering from the financial crisis," Chen said. "Under such circumstances, it is still spending a lot of money on its military and isn't that placing too much pressure on the taxpayers?

"If the U.S. could reduce its military spending a bit and spend more on improving the livelihood of the American people ... wouldn't that be a better scenario?" he said.


The world's two biggest economies frequently clash over financial issues, such as Beijing's resistance to exchange rate reforms and the ballooning U.S. trade deficit with China. Such issues are not usually at the forefront of military talks, though both sides chide each other for their defense spending.China's military budget of $95 billion this year is the world's second-highest after Washington's planned $650 billion in defense spending.
Chen said China is more than two decades behind the U.S. in terms of military technology and Beijing needs to upgrade by adding new hardware such as aircraft carriers.
"China is a big country, and we have quite a number of ships, but these are only small ships and this is not commensurate with the status of a country like China," he said. "Of course I hope that in future we will have aircraft carriers."
Chen said a former Soviet-era aircraft carrier that China bought from Ukraine in 1998 was "a valuable thing" for China and it was being used for research and development purposes.


Chen criticized the U.S. for its recent military exercises with the Philippines and Vietnam, saying they should have been put off due to the heightened regional tensions. Mullen defended the operations as routine.
"The timing of those joint exercises was inappropriate," Chen said. "At this particular time, when China and the related claimants have some difficulties, have some problems with each other, the U.S. decides to hold such large-scale joint exercises ... at the very least this was bad timing."
Mullen countered that the exercises had been planned well in advance and that he wouldn't describe them as "large-scale," though he was open to a debate with Chen on the matter.
The host, Chen, took the last word, saying that even if the exercises were pre-planned, they could have been rescheduled.


Touche!


SOURCE