China waits patiently for rearmament in 2050
Jon Grevatt Jane's Asia-Pacific Industry Reporter
China will wait until the middle of this century before embarking on a period of "energetic rearmament", a leading East Asian defence expert has claimed.
Ron Huisken, a senior fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, added that China's short-to-medium term priority would be to focus on economic growth.
"While this is in progress military rearmament will not be a top priority," Huisken added. "They will not let rearmament slip but economic power is their top priority."
Huisken's comments followed the recent publication of China's National Defence White Paper.
He said that the Chinese government is becoming very aware of its military image: "In order to rebuild the Chinese military they have had to make a hugely uncharacteristic decision to play ball with the rest of the world. It is like a race to achieve military status as soon as possible using the old Chinese way, against the need to change internally to be internationally recognised."
Huisken believes that this change in image is part of Beijing's plan to energise rearmament by the middle of this century.
"They are focusing on what they call 'Peace and Development' and this means that they are still waiting before carrying out a programme of energetic rearmament.
