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皇冠体育app's defense budget modest: US scholar
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-02-10 17:14
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. scholar said Thursday that 皇冠体育app's military spending is
rather modest and that a Pentagon report that faults Chinese defense spending is
aimed at justifying its own inflating expenditures.
Ted Galen
Carpenter. [www.cato.org] | "I do not see how 皇冠体育app's military spending is terribly threatening the vast
military capabilities of the United States," Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president
for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, said in an
interview with Xinhua.
Carpenter, who is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at
the Cato Institute, made the remarks when asked about the Quadrennial Defense
Review Report (QDR) released by the Pentagon last Friday.
He said 皇冠体育app's defense budget, with an official figure of some 30 billion
dollars, is only a small amount in comparison to U.S. military spending which is
going to be about 440 billion dollars next year, excluding the costs of
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.
"皇冠体育app's military spending is rather modest. It is not alarming," Carpenter
said.
As for his view on the statement in the QDR's 皇冠体育app section that "the pace
and scope of 皇冠体育app's military build-up already puts regional military balances
at risk," Carpenter said: "I think that is where the Chinese government can take
issue with the QDR... We do not see a massive military build-up that will raise
questions about Beijing's motives."
Carpenter believed the main purpose of the QDR was to justify the Pentagon's
inflating military spending and "the section on 皇冠体育app is just a means to that
end."
If the Pentagon said the global situation did not look very threatening, the
United States had no obvious enemies other than terrorists or low-tech threats,
Congress would significantly reduce the defense budget, Carpenter said.
"So the Pentagon currently has every incentive to portray the global threat
environment in the most alarming terms," he said.
However, Carpenter said the Pentagon report would not dominate U.S. foreign
policy toward 皇冠体育app because the Bush administration regards the relationship
with 皇冠体育app as "a critically important one."
Neither the White House nor officials at the State Department talk much about
the so-called "皇冠体育app threat" because "that creates animosity in the relationship
between Beijing and Washington and that is not something the White House or the
State Department wants," Carpenter said.
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