Let's See US Arms Expansion and War Preparations 　　Following are extracts of the article by Xinhua: Through the smoke-filled test ground of US high and new weapons over the skies of the Balkan region, people have come to see who is the main threat to world peace and have seen through the vicious attempt of the United States in its arms expansion and war preparation efforts. 　　Since the conclusion of the Cold War, the world situation has tended to become relaxed as a whole, The fact that people want peace and development has become an irresistible trend of the time. But as the saying goes, "The tree may prefer calm, but the wind will not subside", the United States, as the sole superpower in the world, has embarked on the dangerous road of quality arms expansion. 　　Since the beginning of the 1990s, the United States has spared no effort to use the latest achievements of the world's science and technology in its armament expansion. Its aim of doing so is to enhance its long-range attack, accurate guidance and defense capabilities, comprehensively improve its technological advantage and continue to widen its military technological gap with other countries, so as to guarantee its "overwhelming superiority and leading position in various types of conflicts", and "to win the two large-scale war-zone wars breaking out almost simultaneously". In the "four-year defense examination report" published by the defense department of the United States in May 1997, the quality arms expansion policy was further intensified, the new military strategy known as "creation-reaction-preparation" it put forward, the defense department decided to build the US army into a multi-functional armed force with strategic superiority by the year 2015, so as to guarantee the US "unique leading position" in the 21st century. 　　US officials have undisguisedly declared that "force and enabling people to believe in the possible use of force is vitally important to the defense of our major interests". 　　Observers of international issues have sharply pointed out that the fundamental aim of US arms expansion and war preparation is to serve the implementation of its "new interventionism" and the pursuance of its new "gun boat policy" and its effort to establish "peace under US domination", relying on its absolutely superior military force, the United States vainly attempt to impose its own political system, value concept and life style on others, and establish so-called "international new order" conforming to US interests, thereby "entering a new US era which is stronger than ever before", reviving the old dream of imperialist powers enslaving the whole globe. 　　To expand armaments and prepare for war, it is necessary to seek high-sounding pretext and to fool domestic taxpayers into giving it support. US politicians who are well-versed at playing the trick of a thief crying "stop thief!" are creating "rivals" and "enemies" one after another out of nothing. The above-mentioned report says that by the year 2015, several ambitious regional powers will try hard and have the ability to pose challenges to the US interests", it even predicts with evil intention that after the year 2015 China and Russia will possibly become the "global rivals" matching the United States in strength." 　　However, lies,after all, cannot cover up the fact that US military spending has always come first in the world-in 1999 alone, US defense expenditure has run to US$276.2 billion, equivalent to nearly 1.67 times the total defense spending of the six countries of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan and China, in the next six years, US defense spending will increase by US$12 billion. 　　Lies also cannot cover up the fact that the United States has always held the absolutely superior position in terms of the quantity and properties of weaponry and equipment. 　　Lies all the more cannot conceal the fact that the United States is the world's Number one munitions manufacturer and supplier-According to figures published by the London International Strategy Research Institute, between 1992-97, US munitions supplies had a 40-45 percent share in the world market, an equivalence of the total of such countries as Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Israel. 　　Under such circumstances and in such a world, who can become the "rival" of the United States? The United States has only one reason for its unbridled arms expansion, and that is, the wild and arrogant United States is moving against the tide of the time. In fact, it has been going quite far on this wrong road. 　　From Europe to Asia and South America, the United States has 270,000 troops stationed overseas in several dozen countries, continues to maintain its so-called "frontier existence". In Europe, through NATO's eastward expansion, it presses forward its "new strategic concept", and intensifies US leading power over European affairs. In the Asia-Pacific region, it has completed transformation of the US-Japan military alliance through revising the US-Japan defense cooperation guidelines, sowing the seeds of crimes detrimental to the peace and stability of this region. 　　What is particularly worthy of our vigilance is that flaunting the banner of "preventing the proliferation of guided missiles", the United States brazenly violates the anti-ballistic missile treaty, trying its utmost to develop war-zone missile defense system. In defiance of the strong opposition of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, the US government has decided to sell to Taiwan key equipment of the war-zone missile defense system-long-range warning radar system, in an attempt to incorporate China's Taiwan into this system. 　　All these cannot but strike deep worries into the hearts of the world's peace-loving people; if the United States continues to stick to its cold war mentality and arbitrarily persists in arms expansion and war preparations, it will cause new turbulence in the whole world. 　　People will not forget that the United States has relied on its strong weaponry and equipment to bully the weak and repeatedly launched wars of unequal strength. 　　People will also not forget that playing the role as the "world police", the United States has carried out various dirty activities. 　　The ongoing Kosovo war has led to the tragic deaths of more than 1,300 innocent civilians, the injury of over 6,000 people and nearly 1 million refugees. 　　Numerous irrefutable facts have indicated that the United States, which pushes arms expansion and war preparations and pursues hegemonism and power politics, has become the main source of world war and the principal menacer of world peace. 　　The pursuance of warlike policy by a country has always been an omen of its moving toward decline and failure. If the United States refuses to reign in on the brink of the precipice and continues to do as it pleases, it will inevitably arouse the common opposition of the world's people, including the American people, and will end up in an ignominious failure. Indepth 1999-06-02 Page4 Full Story in Chinese