The United States believes China is selling weapons of
mass destruction to Middle Eastern states to finance the modernization of its military.
U.S. officials said this includes WMD sales to such countries as Egypt,
Iran, Libya, Syria and Saudi Arabia, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the sales include both
technology for the development of biological and chemical weapons as well as
components and expertise to develop nuclear weapons from civilian nuclear facilities.
The latest assertion of China's WMD policy came in a Defense Department
report released on Friday. The Pentagon released a report to Congress
entitled "Military Power of the People's Republic of China."
U.S. officials said China's need for
funds to modernize its military could have been a factor in its violations
of a pledge in 2000 to end WMD exports to such countries as Iran.
China is also said to have sold technology for medium-range missiles to
such countries as Egypt, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria. The officials
said much of the technology is sold indirectly through such countries as
North Korea and Pakistan.
On Monday, the U.S.-China Security Review Commission, established by
Congress, agreed with the Pentagon report. The commission, in its first
annual report to Congress, said Beijing provides technology and components
for weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems to terrorist
sponsoring states. The commission said this presents an increasing threat to
U.S. security interests in the Middle East.
"China's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction Ñ associated
technology and conventional munitions may help subsidize certain force
modernization programs," the report said. "Tracking these sources
complicates the process of identifying and assessing defense budgetary
trends."
"There are important areas in which Chinese policy runs directly counter
to U.S. national security interests," the commission said in a report, "such
as not controlling exports that contribute to the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction, its close relations with terrorist-sponsoring states
like Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan and North Korea, its expanding
long-range missile forces, its threatening policies toward Taiwan, and its
pursuit of both asymmetric warfare capabilities and modern military
technology that could menace American military forces."
In March, China announced a 17.6 percent increase, or $3 billion, in
defense spending, which amounted to a total of $65 billion. Over the last
decade, the Pentagon report said, China bought an average of $1 billion of
weapons from Russia alone. Since 1999, the figure has risen to $2 billion a
year. The report said Beijing has purchased weapons from other republics of
the former Soviet Union as well as European states.
The Pentagon report said China's People's Liberation Army has focused on
obtaining command and control systems for its air, sea and ground operations
aimed at Taiwan. This has included the procurement of unmanned aerial
vehicles and airborne early warning aircraft.
"China is investing considerably in the development of UAVs," the
Pentagon report
said. "China already has a number of short-range and longer-range UAVs in
its inventory for reconnaissance, surveillance, and electronic warfare
roles. Research efforts also are underway across a range of UAV technologies
with several developmental UAV programs underway related to reconnaissance,
surveillance, communications, and EW."