Despite Buildup, China Insists Its Goals Are Domestic

BEIJING, March 16 — Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China said Friday that his country is still trying to overcome major obstacles to its internal development and suggested that it will not seek to disrupt the world order dominated by the United States.

In a nationally televised news conference wrapping up the National Peoples Congress, Mr. Wen deflected a series of questions about Chinas rising financial and military power and its fast-growing emissions of gases that contribute to climate change. He argued that China remains a developing country that must study the experiences of richer nations, and which will always act responsibly on the world stage.

Chinese leaders have long followed a public relations strategy that emphasizes modesty and avoids intimations of political, economic or diplomatic ambition. But Mr. Wens defensive tone was notable because Chinas trade surplus, foreign exchange reserves, military spending and pollution have all surged under his leadership in the past four years, raising concerns about the countrys growing impact on the outside world.

Mr. Wen stressed that his focus remained squarely on overcoming hidden crises that threatened to undermine Chinas economy, which he said remained unbalanced, uncoordinated, unstable and unsustainable, even as it grows rapidly. He said the country must also address the overconcentration of power that has fueled rampant corruption, while doing more to help the poor.

The two great tasks are, first, develop the productive forces of society and, second, advance social justice and fairness, he said. The speed of the fleet is not determined by the fastest vessel, rather it is determined by the slowest one.

Mr. Wen said that even as China explores new ways to invest more than $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves in overseas assets, Beijing still amounts to a small player in world financial markets and will not have any impact on U.S.-dollar-denominated assets globally.

He also claimed that Chinas military spending, whether in absolute terms or in relative terms, amounts to less than that of many wealthy countries and some developing countries.

Chinas official military budget for 2007 rose 18 percent to $45.3 billion, continuing a decade-long streak of double-digit increases. Even at that level, which the Pentagon maintains understates Chinas actual defense outlays by a factor of two or three, Chinas military budget in 2007 exceeds that of Japan and is fast approaching those of Britain and France, the largest military spenders after the United States.

Asked to explain Chinas recent firing of an antisatellite missile that successfully destroyed one of Chinas own defunct satellites in space, Mr. Wen answered obliquely. He stressed that the test — which he referred to as an experiment in outer space, rather than the firing of a ground-based ballistic missile into space — was aimed at no other country. He said China favors a treaty banning the use of arms in space.

Chinas position on the peaceful utilization of outer space remains unchanged, he said.

China has become the largest consumer of energy after the United States and by some estimates the largest emitter of gases that contribute to global warming after the United States as well.

Mr. Wen said China intends to act in a responsible manner and work toward reducing emissions, even though it does not have to meet mandatory targets for reducing emissions under the Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming.

The prime minister also said that China needs to pursue political reform to combat corruption, which he acknowledged had infiltrated the top ranks of the ruling Communist Party. Late last year, Chen Liangyu, a member of the Politburo and the Shanghai party boss, was stripped of his position on accusations of graft.

But in response to a question about how long it might take China to become a democracy, Mr. Wen provided a lengthy answer that conflated what Communist Party officials call democracy with the concept as it is known and practiced in the West.

He said that China was already a socialist democracy, but added that China still needs a long time before it perfects its democracy.

Quoting a traditional party line, Mr. Wen said: Socialist democracy in its most fundamental form is to let the people be the masters of their own home. This must include the right to democratic elections, democratic decision making, democratic administration and democratic supervision.

That notion of democracy has prevailed in China since Maos rule. The Communist Party views it as consistent with maintaining its monopoly on political power.

Even so, Mr. Wen said Western nations should not preach to China about overhauling its political system.

Democracy, rule of law, freedom, human rights, equality and fraternity do not belong solely to capitalism, he said. These are the results of a world historic process that mankind has gone through together.

Mr. Wen and other Chinese officials view such rights and freedoms as achievable under one-party rule.

He did not touch on the historic private property law the National Peoples Congress passed earlier on Friday.

Mr. Wen appeared to be caught off guard when asked about the political views of Zhao Ziyang, a late leader of the Communist Party who was purged after he opposed the use of force to quell dissent during the 1989 democracy protests in Beijing.

Mr. Zhaos thoughts on democracy and political reform were the subject of a book published in January in Hong Kong by a confidante of the former leader, who died in 2005.

Mr. Wen answered the question tersely. I have not read this book, he said.

The book is banned in mainland China. And although Mr. Wens news conference was carried live on Chinese television, all references to Mr. Zhao were subsequently struck from the official transcript and edited out of a Webcast of the session.

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