"China's military budget adheres to strict legal procedures, and is true and authentic." said Lieutenant General Zhang Qinsheng, also Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, formally known as Asia Security Conference, in Singapore on June 2.
Organized by London-based International Institute of Security Studies, or IISS, and named after Singaporean Shangri-La Hotel where the three-day meeting was held, it was seen as an important mechanism for addressing major security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. As the most senior Chinese representative to appear at this forum, Zhang's openness on China's defense budget and state military policy was widely applauded by participating nations.
Zhang reiterated China's sincerity to build mutual security, trust and cooperation with other nations in the region. While on the other hand, he assured the gathered defense ministers that China's strategic intent was purely "defensive" in nature, spelling out the country's peaceful development strategy.
Zhang offered a breakdown of the 2007 budget: $20 billion used to raise salaries and pensions for service people, $8 billion for new uniforms, $7 billion for maintenance of military academies, and $15 billion for strengthening the armed forces. The money spent on weapons and arms therefore accounts for less than half of the total $40 billion.
"China's defense budget is small given the size of its population and territory," Zhang added, reassuring his audience that China has no intention of joining the arms race, because a longstanding stability will be beneficial to constant prosperity of China and the region at large.
At the meeting, Zhang also revealed that he would finalize the hotline plan between Chinese and U.S. defense ministries during his Washington tour in September. Amid growing suspicions over China's military buildup, which are evident in Pentagon's newly released annual report on this topic in which China was seen as a military threat, this direct conversation tool between the two sides is expected to help disperse suspicions and improve mutual trust.
"There has clearly been greater transparency on the part of the Chinese."
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, commenting on General Zhang Qinsheng's
introduction to China's military budget at the Shangri-La Dialogue
"Most Asian countries do not see China's military buildup or increased defense spending as a threat to regional security. Instead, they see it as the specific response to the cross-Taiwan Strait situation."
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
"They're motivated by the same hatred that motivates Al Qaeda."
New York's Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, disclosing that the four men charged with plotting to bomb fuel tanks and a pipeline at the city's
John F. Kennedy International Airport had no direct ties to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda, though they did share the same philosophy with the terrorist group,
a day after authorities disclosed the alleged conspiracy on June 2
"All Beijing residents who have moved house because of Olympic venue construction have been supported in their change of residence and none of them had been forced to move out of the capital city."
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu, slamming a report released by a Geneva-based center on Housing Rights and Evictions that said some 1.5 million people would have been displaced by the time the Beijing Games are held in 2008,
at a regular press conference in Beijing on June 5
"These freedoms did not leave us when Hong Kong became a special administrative region of China in 1997."
Joseph Wong, Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, speaking at the Hong Kong Journalists Association's 39th Anniversary Gala Dinner on June 3, citing independent surveys by the University of Hong Kong that show the rating for freedom of speech in Hong Kong was 7.46 in January this year, compared with 7.17 in August 1997, a month after the handover of sovereignty
"Trees are giant carbon pumps, sucking carbon from the air and pumping it into the ground, trunks and branches."
Luke Chamberlain, Australian environmentalist, calling for an end to native forest logging at a rally marking the World Environment Day on June 5, in the southern Australian state of Victoria
"Even under current Russian law I am still a long way away from retirement age, and it would make no sense to just sit at home and twiddle my thumbs."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, answering questions about his plans after leaving the presidential post in a June 4 interview with newspaper journalists from G8 member countries in Moscow | 
