China carries out an active defence military strategy that is based on a principle of self-defence and winning only after the enemy has struck, said a senior military official yesterday.

General Xiong Guangkai, a deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army, explained China's national defence policy at the International Forum on China and the World in the 21st Century yesterday.

China has no imaginary enemy and does not think it faces the threat from one or several countries, Xiong said. Today, the nation's goal is to safeguard peace and guarantee development, the common goals of all nations.

China has enjoyed a comparatively stable period of good-neighbourly relations and security in recent years. Still, threats remain in the world because leaders of some countries still adhere to Cold War thinking and play power politics in the international arena, he noted..

Local wars, armed conflicts arising from racial, religious, territorial and resource disputes continue to agitate the world scene.

Accordingly, China has made changes to its national defence policy to meet these challenges, the general said. The core of the adjustment lay in the shift from a combat-ready posture to a peacetime effort.

China has made three force reductions, dropping the number of servicemen to 2.5 million from a high of 6.6 million in 1975.

Defence spending is at a low level compared with that of some major powers.

China's economy in the past 20 years has increased at a speed of at least 7 per cent each year, but defence spending has not grown accordingly. The average growth rate of China's defence spending between 1974 and 1994 was minus 1.1 per cent after considering inflation.

The general also addressed the Taiwan question, noting the situation has become grimmer and more complex due to a surging "Taiwan independence" force.

Under the formula of "one country, two systems," peaceful reunification is in the interest of all Chinese people, he added.

The Chinese mainland will not commit to giving up the use of military force. Yet hostile forces on the island province that are a threat to the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be considered, Xiong said.

( chinadaily.com.cn 09/12/2001)