Defending itself on defence

China yesterday announced at the National People's Congress it plans to increase its defence budget by 17.6%. Comparing the front page of China Daily with those of other newspapers that covered the same story is like staring at a mirror image in a lake. CD stresses "The increased amount would be used raise the pay of service personnel and offset the impact of price hikes" - giving the injection an air of humanitarianism. It continues: "Military equipment will be moderately upgraded to enhance troops' ability to fight a defensive war based on IT." The article goes on to stress how little China spends on its armed forces in comparison with the West and Russia. It concludes with a warning for Taiwan, which is "destined to pay a 'dear price' if they stubbornly take the dangerous path of 'Taiwan Independence' in a desperate throw of the dice."

Any reference that contains the words Taiwan and parliament or independence is always put in quotation marks, a practice so mind-bogglingly patronising and immature it calls to mind images of Team America's Kim Jong-Il dancing around on a podium giving quote marks with his fingers every second sentence - at least to my mind. The fact Taiwan is to hold a referendum on UN membership this month is not mentioned anywhere on CD's front page, almost as if the very notion is too dangerous to even contemplate. This kind of cloak and dagger insinuation makes a mockery of the intelligence of China Daily's readers.

It is true that the increase in the defence budget is the same as last year, but the New York Times points out that many analysts believe China actually spends at least twice as much as it declares it does. It then leads with what the budget means for Taiwan, and links to a great story about a Chinese submarine getting the better of US aircraft carrier The Kitty Hawk by surfacing undetected within torpedo range. The implications are obvious - this budget is aimed at deterring Taiwan and warning the US that China is well on its way to being able to compete militarily in East Asia.

The Guardian focuses more on the IT war threat (and leads with a story today on NATO warning on the dangers of cyber-terrorism and intrusion that references China). Britain and the US are concerned after businesses and state security systems came under attack from Chinese hackers late last year. It is unconfirmed whether or not the hackers had the endorsement of Beijing.

In any case, the stories make you wonder why China is so keen to stress the defensive nature of the expansion of its armed forces, while rattling the saber against Tawian and dropping hints about IT warfare. Who is it trying to fool?