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China’s defense
spending to top US$100 billion
CONCERNING: While the 11.2 percent rise over
last year is a slowdown in pace, one Taiwan-based analyst thinks it will still
leave some countries ‘really concerned’
AFP, Beijing
China said yesterday its military spending would top US$100 billion this year —
a double-digit increase over last year — in a move likely to fuel concerns about
Beijing’s rapid military buildup.
The defense budget will rise 11.2 percent to 670.27 billion yuan (US$106.41
billion), National People’s Congress spokesperson Li Zhaoxing (李肇星) said, citing
a budget report submitted to the country’s legislature.
The figure marks a slowdown from last year when spending rose by 12.7 percent,
but is still likely to fuel worries over China’s growing assertiveness in the
Asia-Pacific region and push its neighbors to forge closer ties with the US.
Li described the budget as “relatively low” as a percentage of GDP compared with
other countries and said it was aimed at “safeguarding sovereignty, national
security and territorial integrity.”
“We have a large territory and a long coastline, but our defense spending is
relatively low compared with other major countries,” Li told reporters. “It will
not in the least pose a threat to other countries.”
China has been increasing its military spending by double digits for most of the
past decade, during which time its economy, now the world’s second largest, has
grown at a blistering pace.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — the world’s largest with an estimated 2.3
million troops — is hugely secretive about its defense programs, but insists its
modernization is purely defensive in nature.
The rapid military buildup has nevertheless set alarm bells ringing across Asia
and in Washington, which announced in January a defense strategy focused on
countering China’s rising power.
Analysts said the smaller-than-expected increase in spending this year was an
attempt by Beijing to ease concerns in the US and the region about its growing
military might.
“It is doubtful whether the message will get across because most countries know
that the real budget is at least double the published one,” said Willy Lam
(林和立), a leading China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Lam said funding for modernizing the country’s military was not included in the
published budget, which mostly covered salaries for defense personnel and
maintenance of existing equipment.
Money for research and development of modern weaponry “comes from elsewhere,” he
said.
Taiwan-based PLA expert Arthur Ding (丁樹範) said the still considerable growth in
this year’s budget would push “regional countries to try to build closer ties
with the United States.”
“I think the regional countries will be really concerned about that,” Ding said.
“China has to explain and try to convince the regional countries why they need
such a high growth rate.”
China began revamping the PLA in earnest after a troubled 1979 incursion into
Vietnam, when the neighbors vied for influence over Southeast Asia.
China’s defense budget is expected to double between last year and 2015 and
outstrip the combined spending of all other key defense markets in the
Asia-Pacific region, global research group IHS said last month.
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