The Study Times sponsored by the Central Party School of the CPC recently carried an article which says that over the past few years, China has increased its military expenditure for good reasons.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (L) and China's Central Military Commission Vice Chairman General Guo Boxiong stand at attention during the playing of the national anthem before their meeting at the Pentagon in Washington July 18, 2006.[Reuters]

The rising military expenditure however does not mean that China aims at involving in arms race.

While abiding by the principle of peaceful development, China has always paid attention to its national defense modernization.

As China has made some progress in its military modernization, some people are afraid lest China's growing military strength constitute a threat to other countries. While some people say so deliberately, many others just don't understand China's specific situation.

The article says China has decided to increase its military expenditure for many good reasons. From the 1980s to the 1990s, China allocated a big proportion of its revenue for economic development and little was put into military construction. Many problems have arisen in this process due to the limited military expenditure.

In China, for example, soldiers' living standards are relatively low. So China has decided to allocate more money in this aspect in order to improve their living standards.

Secondly, from the Gulf War to the Iraq War, it can be seen that great changes have been taking place in the military field. For China, however, its national defense modernization is still at the mechanization or semi-mechanization stage.

If China does not catch up with the latest military changes in the Information Era, China will be left behind by other countries. As a result, China's defense capability will be less competitive, and its peaceful development strategy can not be guaranteed.

As a developing country, China's modernization level in the military field is relatively low at present, and it did take a slow start in military information construction. Therefore China has to allocate a relatively large amount of money in the military field.

Thirdly, China adheres to a non-alignment policy, which means that China can not obtain advanced technologies or equipment from military powers, like some small countries do from their big allies. China has to rely on its own efforts to develop its military strength. Therefore it has to put more money into its military construction.

Fourthly, in light of the existence of the Taiwan Independence forces, China has to increase its military expenditure to fight back against their provocation.

In addition, since international oil prices keep rising and there are price hikes in domestic commodities, China has to increase military expenditure to meet the rising costs. All other countries have encountered similar situations in this respect.

As for the issue of military expenditure transparency, the article declares, China does not object to increasing the transparency level of its military expenditure, since it can promote mutual trust between countries.