2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-China to Substantially Boost Its Military

China has announced it will substantially increase its military budget this year, another in a series of annual increases that will boost China's defense¹ spending to nearly thirty billion dollars. Today's announcement comes on the eve of that country's National People's Congress, a yearly gathering² that functions as a kind of parliament. NPR's Rob Gifford is in Beijing.

"And Rob, what is the reason for this increase in military spending?"

"Well, as you say, this has been going on every year for the last decade or so and it's all part of the transformation³ of the Chinese Military, Eh the Chinese military used to rely more on the fact that it had more people than anyone else, more soldiers,and now it's trying to transform itself into a 21st century Army, Navy and Airforce. They want to go high-tech⁴ and of course that costs money. So looking at the EU arms embargo⁵ which may be about to be lifted, looking at Russia, looking elsewhere, they want to purchase more weaponry and really upgrade their systems and the other part of it is that they're trying to lay off people, that's, er, hundreds of thousands of military personnel are going to be laid off over the next few years. And this is the side of it they will try to emphasize it at the news conference today. The softer side of it -- they need to pay those people pensions as those military personnel go into retirement⁶."

"Looking to the People's Congress that is going to be convened⁷ this weekend, I gather it is expected to pass a law aimed at Taiwan."

"That's right. There's, er, something called the Anti-secession Law, which, we don't know much about it. It's been kept under wraps. Essentially⁸, it is aiming to codify⁹, to put into Chinese law Beijing Government's opposition¹⁰ to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan as if anybody hadn't quite got the message yet. This is, er, the Chinese government trying to send a warning to the Taiwanese government not to officially declare independence. They are quite limited in the way they can send these warnings. In the past, they've tried to lob missiles into the Taiwan Straits and that way of doing it has backfire. So they are putting it into law to show their opposition to any moves by the Taiwanese government. There's some suggestion that they might lay down some kind of new red line which Taiwan cannot cross without provoking Chinese military action. I suspect that may not happen because actually in the last few months, there's been rather a warming of relations across the Taiwan Straits with actually the first direct flights between the two in 55 years."

"And what are the other big issues being debated at this year's People's Congress?"

"Well, the National People's Congress is always accused of being a complete rubber stamp parliament, and certainly on the big issues, that is still very much true. No one is going to be opposing the big things that the Communist Party wants to push through. But on other issues, rather like Chinese society itself, there's a lot more space, a lot more room for discussion and I think on social issues especially, there is going to be a lot of debate during this ten-day Congress. Especially looking at one main issue. And that's the wealth gap, the income gap. The cities are becoming really quite prosperous in China and the countryside is lagging far behind. And that's leading to a lot of unrest, it’s leading to a lot of anger. And I think the Communist Party very much wants this issue debated. Thay want ideas as to how to close this, how to stop, of course, it’s in their interest to stop unrest because that will challenge their rules. So a lot of these social issues. Work safety will be another one that'll be discussed. Almost every month, we seem to hear that 200 more Chinese coal miners have died in some explosion. That's very embarrassing for the Communist Party. So a lot of those kind of social, perhaps, economic issues are going to be on the agenda."

Rob,thanks very much.

Thanks. R.

NPR's Rob Gifford speaking from Beijing.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

4 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

5 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

6 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

7 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 codify   

v.将法律、法规等编成法典

参考例句：

• The noble,Dracon,was asked to codify the laws.贵族德拉古被选为立法者。
• The new government promised to codify the laws.新政府应允要编纂法典。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。