Defense Ministry underlines Asian-Pacific peace, stability(2)

CHINA SAYS NO TO ARMS RACE

The spokesman also addressed concerns about China's naval upgrades, saying it is "quite normal" for countries to upgrade their militaries in an era of rapidly developing technology.

"Weapons and equipment development is undertaken to maintain national security. It does not target any specific country or objective," he said.

China will not develop its military strength beyond national security demands and economic capability, and will not conduct an arms race with any country, he said.

Geng also mentioned a report by IHS Jane's, saying China's military expenditures will increase from 119.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2011 to 238.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

"I don't know where the report cited those figures," Geng said.

Addressing a report issued by the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies regarding China's navy, Geng said the report makes a "wild guess" about China's military strength and exaggerates China's military threat.

He stressed that Japan has strengthened its own military in recent years, drawing attention from the international community, especially neighboring countries.

"We hope Japan will abide by its commitment to pursue a peaceful way of development, make its military development more transparent and reflect on its military policies, instead of gossiping about others," he said.

NAVAL ESCORT COOPERATION

Geng confirmed that China, India and Japan will step up their coordination and cooperation in international naval escort activities.

"The integrated escort schedule will be arranged on a quarterly basis," Geng said, noting that the strengthened coordination and cooperation could increase the efficiency of escort operations and better safeguard the safety of international navigation.

Geng noted that China has been playing an active role in promoting international naval escort operations and has boosted its exchanges of intelligence, as well as increased the number of joint naval escort missions and drills with relevant countries and organizations.

According to Geng, 10 Chinese navy flotillas, including 25 warships, 22 helicopters and over 8,400 officers and soldiers, have been deployed to the Gulf of Aden for escort missions since December 2008.

An international symposium on international escort missions convened Thursday in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province, Geng added.