Chinese army fans get clips of wars on mobile phones

CHINESE mobile phone users can now download film clips of the Korean War and stirring military anthems to celebrate the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Subscribers to China Unicom, the smaller of the country’s two mobile telecom operators, are being offered the service for about $1 a month.

“I believe it will be popular since we have so many military fans in China,” said Unicom’s Yu Peng.

“We have more than 300,000 pictures of weapons and military figures in our database, along with clips of hundreds of movies, such as Battle for Berlin, Normandy Invasion and Shang Ganling, a movie about the Korean War,” he said.

Customers will also be able to get military news sent straight to their handsets from the army’s own newspaper.

“It’s not just about making money. By doing it, we are celebrating the PLA’s 80th anniversary,” Yu said. “And in the process providing more healthy content through mobile phones.”

Earlier this week, China let in a crack of light on its military modernisation, opening a camp to foreign reporters.

The PLA, the world’s largest armed force, guards its secrets jealously.

But China is keen appear more open ahead of next year’s Beijing Olympics and to dispel jitters in Washington about its growing arms budget.

In March, China said it would boost defence spending by 17.8% to about $45 billion this year.

China and the United States have long sparred over the nature of China’s military development, with Beijing maintaining that its armed forces are geared towards self-defence only.

“I don’t know what anyone has to worry about,” said a senior colonel Zhang Qingjiang. “I think we’re very transparent.”