China cherishes ties with South Asia - Chinese Defence Minister

Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie, in Sri Lanka for an official goodwill visit, has reiterated that China's national defence policy was linked to peaceful development.

Liang said among China's 14 land neighbours, five are in South Asia and China attaches great importance to its relations with the South Asian nations.

Speaking at the Defence Services College in Colombo, he said the Chinese army's efforts in conducting friendly exchanges and cooperation with its counterparts in the South Asian nations are intended for maintaining regional security and stability and not targeted at any third party.

China's national defence policy is subject to and in service of national development strategy and security strategy and China's adherence to a peaceful development path determines that China will pursue a national defence policy that is defensive in nature, said the defence minister.

He said the fundamental goals and tasks of China's national defence is to curb separation, promote reunification, guard against and resist aggression, protect State sovereignty, territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests, and safeguard national development interests.

He said China pursues a coordinated development of its national defence and economy."China's defence spending in 2010 and 2011 took 1.4 percent and 1.28 percent of its GDP respectively. Compared with the developed countries, and some developing countries, China's defence spending stays at a very low level." He said China exercises a military strategy of active defence, with the basic principle of adhering to a self-defence position that not to take the initiative to offend others, stand for non- military means to solve disputes, take defensive posture strategically, conduct self-defence and attack only after being attacked. "Take the recent Huangyan Island incident as an example, it is obvious that China's military strength is stronger than that of the Philippines, but we didn't use force or threat to use force, on the contrary, we have been committed to seeking solution of the dispute through diplomatic means."

"The Chinese government issued a whitepaper China's Peaceful Development in 2011, solemnly declaring to the world that China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development. The core idea of this path is that China will develop itself through upholding world peace and contribute to world peace through its own development," Liang, the first defence minister to visit Sri Lanka, said.

He explained that China's adherence to the path of peaceful development is determined by its history, culture and traditions, which center on the idea of peace and harmony.

He said in the Sri Lanka National Museum stands a stone tablet carved in 1409, which was gifted by Zhenghe, the famous navigator in ancient China during his stopover in Sri Lanka, as a commemoration for his donation to a local Buddhist temple.

He said China sticks to improving the quality of its military with informationalization as the main objective and it firmly upholds world peace and stability. "Up to now, China has dispatched around 21,000 person/times to 30 UN Peace-keeping missions, making it the largest personnel contributor among the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council. We have sent rescue teams for 18 times to conduct humanitarian rescue operations. Since 2008, China has sent 12 batches of naval task forces to conduct escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. With the further modernization of China's national defence, China will make greater contributions to world peace as a responsible member of the international community," he said.