China raises spending on military
Source: Xinhua |
March 5, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
China is to boost military spending by 11.2 percent this year, Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the National People's Congress, announced yesterday.
It will bring the official outlay on the People's Liberation Army to 670.3 billion yuan (US$106.4 billion) in 2012.
Li said the expenditure paled in comparison to the United States' US$725 billion.
While China's military spending amounted to 1.28 percent of its gross domestic product in 2011, that of the United States, Britain and other countries all exceeded 2 percent, said Li.
"You can see that we have 1.3 billion people with large land areas and a long coastline, but our outlays on defense are quite low compared to other major countries," Li told a news conference before the annual full session of the legislature, which will approve the budget.
"China's limited military power is for the sake of preserving national sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity," said Li, a former foreign minister. "Fundamentally, it constitutes no threat to other countries."
China's military spending mainly comprises the living expenditure of servicemen and women, expenses for training and maintenance, and the cost of equipment, Li said.
Describing the growth of the defense budget as "reasonable and appropriate," Li added: "The Chinese government follows the principle of coordinating defense development with economic development. It sets the country's defense spending according to the requirements of national defense and the level of economic development.
"The Chinese government has maintained reasonable and appropriate growth in defense spending on the strength of rapid economic and social development and the steady increase of fiscal revenue," he said.
During the three years since the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China's GDP and national fiscal expenditure showed year-on-year growth of 14.5 percent and 20.3 percent, respectively, but the country's defense expenditure only grew by 13 percent, Li said.
He also noted that the share of defense spending in China's GDP dropped from 1.33 percent in 2008 to 1.28 percent in 2011, and that in China's fiscal expenditure dropped from 6.68 percent in 2008 to 5.53 percent in 2011.
China's national defense spending has always been maintained at a moderate and sufficient level, said Major General Luo Yuan, a researcher with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Science Academy.
"Moderate" means China will not raise its military spending merely for the purpose of boosting scale, while "sufficient" means the spending has to meet necessary demand for national defense, said Luo.
Li told the news conference that China was transparent not only with its defense figures, but also about the fact that everything China's defense and diplomatic personnel do is to maintain peace.
"We have made tremendous efforts together with all peace-loving countries and peoples of the world," he said.
By June last year, China had sent a total of 2,044 peace-keeping personnel to 12 zones around the world, and the Chinese navy had sent escort vessels to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to protect thousands of commercial vessels from China and other countries.
It will bring the official outlay on the People's Liberation Army to 670.3 billion yuan (US$106.4 billion) in 2012.
Li said the expenditure paled in comparison to the United States' US$725 billion.
While China's military spending amounted to 1.28 percent of its gross domestic product in 2011, that of the United States, Britain and other countries all exceeded 2 percent, said Li.
"You can see that we have 1.3 billion people with large land areas and a long coastline, but our outlays on defense are quite low compared to other major countries," Li told a news conference before the annual full session of the legislature, which will approve the budget.
"China's limited military power is for the sake of preserving national sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity," said Li, a former foreign minister. "Fundamentally, it constitutes no threat to other countries."
China's military spending mainly comprises the living expenditure of servicemen and women, expenses for training and maintenance, and the cost of equipment, Li said.
Describing the growth of the defense budget as "reasonable and appropriate," Li added: "The Chinese government follows the principle of coordinating defense development with economic development. It sets the country's defense spending according to the requirements of national defense and the level of economic development.
"The Chinese government has maintained reasonable and appropriate growth in defense spending on the strength of rapid economic and social development and the steady increase of fiscal revenue," he said.
During the three years since the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China's GDP and national fiscal expenditure showed year-on-year growth of 14.5 percent and 20.3 percent, respectively, but the country's defense expenditure only grew by 13 percent, Li said.
He also noted that the share of defense spending in China's GDP dropped from 1.33 percent in 2008 to 1.28 percent in 2011, and that in China's fiscal expenditure dropped from 6.68 percent in 2008 to 5.53 percent in 2011.
China's national defense spending has always been maintained at a moderate and sufficient level, said Major General Luo Yuan, a researcher with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Science Academy.
"Moderate" means China will not raise its military spending merely for the purpose of boosting scale, while "sufficient" means the spending has to meet necessary demand for national defense, said Luo.
Li told the news conference that China was transparent not only with its defense figures, but also about the fact that everything China's defense and diplomatic personnel do is to maintain peace.
"We have made tremendous efforts together with all peace-loving countries and peoples of the world," he said.
By June last year, China had sent a total of 2,044 peace-keeping personnel to 12 zones around the world, and the Chinese navy had sent escort vessels to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to protect thousands of commercial vessels from China and other countries.
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