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SCMP Reporter

CHINA has launched a series of large-scale war games to raise the combat readiness of its three million-strong army, according to the Chinese-run Wen Wei Po.

  Footage of the exercises was broadcast on national networks in the run up to the fourth anniversary of the June 4 crackdown.

  Wen Wei Po's story has also coincided with reports that the party has reinforced the security establishment and tightened ideological control.

  The Hongkong newspaper quoted a military source as saying the decision to step up training was made by the party's Central Military Commission (CMC).

  The source disclosed that the CMC had also decided to nurture a new generation of army officers to form the backbone of the Chinese army in the coming century.

  ''Under the principle of reducing the size of the army . . . large-scale in-the-field military exercises, which have not been organised in recent years, are now under way across the country,'' Wen Wei Po said in a front-page article yesterday.

  It quoted the source as saying the CMC had made it clear that even in the relatively peaceful period of today, military exercises had become the only way to sharpen the skills of soldiers.

  The source hinted that high technology would play a bigger role so that the Chinese army could ''demonstrate its superiority in any defensive battles and defeat the invaders''.

  But the source denied Beijing would seek military expansion because the country must concentrate on economic building instead of army hardware.

  A similar message was made yesterday by a mainland scholar who said China's annual military expenditure was far below the levels of developed countries.

  At a seminar in Hongkong, Zhan Shiliang, former Chinese ambassador to Egypt, rejected accusations that Beijing had contributed to the international arms race.

  Without naming names, Mr Zhan blamed ''powerful players'' for pressuring countries such as China to reveal their sales of weapons.

  ''I didn't oppose transparency . . . but why such prejudice,'' he asked.

  On a separate subject, the former ambassador said disputes in the Asia-Pacific region were best resolved through dialogue, instead of a structural organisation modelled on the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE).

  ''Asia-Pacific will find it difficult to establish a regional security arrangement modelled on CSCE. What we need is an active probing for the gradual establishment of a regional security mechanism that suits the region,'' Mr Zhan said.



Beijing launches army war games