China to raise defense spending by 12.7%
March 5, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
China will boost its defense spending by 12.7 percent this year, a legislative spokesman said yesterday, while reiterating that the return to double-digit military budget growth after a dip in 2010 was not a threat to other countries.
The increase to just over 601 billion yuan (US$91.5 billion) would go toward appropriate hardware, military training, infrastructure at grassroots barracks, and subsidy increases for the 2.3 million members of the People's Liberation Army, spokesman Li Zhaoxing told a news conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The announcement came a day ahead of today's opening of the National People's Congress, where the country's social and economic goals will be laid out for the next five years.
The defense budget increase is up from the 7.5 percent forecast in 2010, which broke a string of years of double-digit growth as China transformed its military into a more modern force. The growth rate at 17.8 percent in 2007.
Li said the defense budget accounted for just 6 percent of China's national budget and less than 2 percent of its gross domestic product, a lower figure than in other countries.
"The government has always tried to limit military spending and it has set defense spending at a reasonable level to ensure a balance between national defense and economic development," he said.
Li, a former foreign minister, added: "This will not pose a threat to any country."
China's military spending is low compared to the world average, given its 1.3 billion population, vast land area and long coastline, and its ratio of spending to gross domestic product is lower than many other countries, Li said.
While China's military spending amounts to about 1.4 percent of its GDP, "that ratio in India is much higher than 2 percent," Li said in response to a question from an Indian journalist.
China's military spending is dwarfed by that of the United States which, at US$725 billion, accounted for about 4 percent of America's GDP for 2011, said Major General Luo Yuan, a researcher with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Science Academy.
"It is natural for China's defense budget to slightly fluctuate, as it is impossible to always rise at a high rate," said Luo. To some extent, the increase in military spending was made to keep pace with the rising consumer price index, he said.
The modest growth in military expenditure in China may also be the result of the country's need to prioritize domestic spending, both to rebalance incomes and geographies, and to protect against international economic disruptions, said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a US expert on China.
Kuhn, author of "How China's Leaders Think," also attributed the increase to "recognition of significant improvement in defense technologies and systems for defensive purposes."
He said: "Indeed, in today's hyper-complex world, a broader definition of 'national security' includes economic and social requirements in addition to traditional defense needs."
"Moderate" means China would not raise its military spending merely to boost its scale, while "sufficient" means spending has to meet necessary demand for national defense, Luo said.
The increase to just over 601 billion yuan (US$91.5 billion) would go toward appropriate hardware, military training, infrastructure at grassroots barracks, and subsidy increases for the 2.3 million members of the People's Liberation Army, spokesman Li Zhaoxing told a news conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The announcement came a day ahead of today's opening of the National People's Congress, where the country's social and economic goals will be laid out for the next five years.
The defense budget increase is up from the 7.5 percent forecast in 2010, which broke a string of years of double-digit growth as China transformed its military into a more modern force. The growth rate at 17.8 percent in 2007.
Li said the defense budget accounted for just 6 percent of China's national budget and less than 2 percent of its gross domestic product, a lower figure than in other countries.
"The government has always tried to limit military spending and it has set defense spending at a reasonable level to ensure a balance between national defense and economic development," he said.
Li, a former foreign minister, added: "This will not pose a threat to any country."
China's military spending is low compared to the world average, given its 1.3 billion population, vast land area and long coastline, and its ratio of spending to gross domestic product is lower than many other countries, Li said.
While China's military spending amounts to about 1.4 percent of its GDP, "that ratio in India is much higher than 2 percent," Li said in response to a question from an Indian journalist.
China's military spending is dwarfed by that of the United States which, at US$725 billion, accounted for about 4 percent of America's GDP for 2011, said Major General Luo Yuan, a researcher with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Science Academy.
"It is natural for China's defense budget to slightly fluctuate, as it is impossible to always rise at a high rate," said Luo. To some extent, the increase in military spending was made to keep pace with the rising consumer price index, he said.
The modest growth in military expenditure in China may also be the result of the country's need to prioritize domestic spending, both to rebalance incomes and geographies, and to protect against international economic disruptions, said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a US expert on China.
Kuhn, author of "How China's Leaders Think," also attributed the increase to "recognition of significant improvement in defense technologies and systems for defensive purposes."
He said: "Indeed, in today's hyper-complex world, a broader definition of 'national security' includes economic and social requirements in addition to traditional defense needs."
"Moderate" means China would not raise its military spending merely to boost its scale, while "sufficient" means spending has to meet necessary demand for national defense, Luo said.
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