Under the aid of related departments, a group of 16 journalists from Hong Kong and Macao visited the barracks of the sixth armored division of Beijing Military Area Command located at Beijing suburbs, soon after the US published its US-China Security Review Report, spreading "China threat" fallacy.
When asked to comment on the US report, the division commander Yuan Dongwei said the reported deliberately distorted the military facts in China and slandered China's national defense policy. He also showed confidence and determination to safeguard the country when talking about the military tasks of the armored division.
Essential Differences Between China, US Military Budgets
The Report's evaluation on China's military forces displayed the long term standing of right-wing forces of the US, which is nothing new, Yuan said. In fact, China's military budget is not as big as that of the Report mentioned. What's more, China's budget is mainly used to guarantee the provisions of military staff and raising their living standards.
A Better Life for Common Soldiers
The rise of national defense budget approved by NPC at the year beginning is 17.6 percent, much of them used to better the life of military men. The state is much concerned with the construction of military forces, especially the daily life of common soldiers, Commander Yuan told journalists. Recently more subsidies are granted for food, garment and salary.
As reported, over 50 percent of the division's whole expenditure is living expenses. Last year the division saw a living cost around 140 million yuan (about US$17.5 million), a rise of 20 to 30 million yuan. The living cost per capita per day raised from 8 yuan to around 10 yuan. Besides, with the raising of state's salary level, the salary for officers and soldiers also grow in recent years.
As a division commander, Yuan said he could get a salary over RMB 2000 yuan per month, including an additional 200 yuan since latter half of last year. The salary for officers of lower ranks is also rising, and that for soldiers raised from 5 yuan per capita per month, when Yuan himself was a soldier, to today's 70 to 80 yuan.
(People's Daily July 23, 2002)
