China’s military budget ‘to rise by 10%’
S$198b in spending aimed only at modernising, improving conditions for army: Beijing
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BEIJING — China’s official military budget will grow by about 10 per cent in the coming year, a legislative spokeswoman said yesterday, amid unease among Beijing’s neighbours about its growing might and territorial ambitions.
The rise to about US$145 billion (S$198 billion) in spending would mark the fifth year in a row of double-digit increases despite the country’s slowing economic growth, which fell to 7.4 per cent last year from 7.7 per cent the previous year.
The spending reflects China’s growing power and desire to assert itself in the region and globally. However, Beijing says the bigger budgets are aimed only at modernising and improving conditions for the 2.3 million-member People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest standing military.
“China has a tougher road to travel than other large nations in terms of national defence modernisation. We can rely only on ourselves for research and development of most of our military technology,” legislative spokeswoman Ms Fu Ying said. “Meanwhile, we need to ceaselessly improve conditions for our soldiers.”
Ms Fu told a news conference that China’s military posture remains strictly defensive and that it has neverused “gunboats” to advance its trade interests. Despite such assurances, neighbouring countries have increased their military spending in part to counter Beijing’s rise.
In the past several years, Chinese and Japanese ships have frequently confronted one another near a set of contested East China Sea islands. Beijing and New Delhi also have a disputed border high in the Himalayas.
China has disputes with several neighbours over territory in the South China Sea where, United States Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said last week, Beijing is expanding outposts as part of an “aggressive” effort to assert sovereignty.
Japan increased its defence budget by 2.8 per cent this year to a record US$42 billion. It is the third consecutive year of increases following 11 years of declines before hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s rise to power in 2012. Planes and naval vessels to counter China’s growing capabilities top the Japanese military’s shopping list.
India, the world’s biggest arms importer in recent years, increased its spending this year by 11 per cent to US$40 billion, with big increases for its navy and air force. New Delhi has expressed concern not only about the disputed land border, but also about the Chinese navy’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean.
China’s official military spending is still less than a third of the US defence budget, a proposed US$534 billion this year along with US$51 billion for the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
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