Not your father's CIA

However, it seems I am not alone..... . . . But the DIA sees China buildup as threat

In contrast to Negroponte, DIA Director Lt. Gen. Michael Maples last week presented a harsh assessment of China’s military buildup during Senate Intelligence Committee testimony.

The DIA director said China’s buildup has gone on for more than a decade and includes huge spending increases that are largely hidden from public and international view.

“PRC leaders remain focused on improving the quality of military personnel and developing or acquiring long-range, precision-strike missiles, modern fighter aircraft, a blue-water navy, and improved amphibious forces,” Maples said.

“China took delivery of the final three SS-N-27B-capable KILO-class submarines over the past year, completing its contract with Russia for eight of these submarines,” he said in describing the advanced anti-ship missile on the subs.

While China appears focused on “internal issues,” Maples said, its foreign policy is driven by economic development, maintaining communist party control and safeguarding internal stability.

Contrary to publications that stress peaceful development, “a major driver of Chinese foreign policy is the acquisition of adequate supplies of resources and materials for its development,” Maples said.

“China’s continued search for energy may become a point of contention between itself and the West, potentially affecting its policy towards Iran, a key Chinese energy supplier,” he said.

On Taiwan, Beijing is seeking to prevent formal Taiwan independence but estimates based on long-term military, economic and diplomatic trends favoring Beijing are indicators that China “will not try to force unification.”

Internal political difficulties in Taiwan also have “reassured” China’s leaders to keep the current course on the island.

More interpretive games, and this one from the military .. Admiral: China's 'offensive military capabilities' part of its 'defensive' military strategy

China is developing offensive weapons and forces in additional to defensive arms, a Chinese admiral stated last week.

Vice Admiral Yang Yi, the head of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, stated in an official Chinese news report that Chinese military strategy is “defensive,” but that “really does not mean that it will not develop offensive military capabilities.”

“The development of military capabilities should be seen as involving both offensive and defensive types,” Yi said. “However, China's military capabilities, which do involve both offense and defense, will never be used for foreign expansion, and we will never use such military capabilities to invade or ride roughshod over another country.”

Yi said the major world powers are developing weapons and adjusting strategies, a reference to U.S. military forces transformation.

“Informatization [xinxihua] is continuing to open the gap with the mechanized and semi-mechanized military technology era, and there is an increasing disequilibrium in the balance of military power around the world,” Yi said.

“At present, China has a regular army with the greatest number of personnel in the world. However, because investments were insufficient for a long time, in the process in which the revolution in military affairs (RMA) on a global scale is continuing to intensify, the gap between China and the developed countries in the military realm is not shrinking, but rather continuing to expand. The Chinese military has still not completely achieved mechanization, and we are even farther from establishing an informatized force."

China’s military buildup is aimed at protecting “territorial integrity” and includes buying new advanced aircraft, naval vessels and has developed its new fighter, the J-10.

"Nonetheless, the upgrading of individual weapons platforms cannot take the place of the overall upgrading of the operational capabilities of the entire weapons system, and in particular cannot signify a significant improvement in operational capabilities under informatized conditions,” he said.

“Quite a few military analysts in Western countries believe that, overall, the weapons and equipment in China's military are at least 20 years behind the United States and the developed countries of the West.”

Yi said China’s strategy of using military force for counterattacks is based on Sun Tzu’s maxim of "being cautious with regard to war" and "insisting on the legitimacy of warfare."

U.S. officials have said China continues to launch “perception management” operations with the main theme that China’s military buildup is non-threatening.

Yet, Chinese military developments are carried out in almost total secrecy and Chinese officials have refused to say when the build-up will end or at whom it is directed.