BEIJING - China will boost defence spending by 17.8 percent in 2007, accelerating the emerging power’s string of annual double-digit rises in money for a modern military that reflects its economic strength.
Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the National People’s Congress, said on Sunday that the planned budget for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) this year was 350.92 billion yuan, or about $44.94 billion, an increase of 52.99 billion yuan on 2006.
China’s rising military spending since the 1990s followed many years of slimmed budgets and would not threaten other countries, Jiang said.
‘In recent years, China has steadily increased defence spending based on its economic development,’ Jiang told a news briefing. ‘China has neither the wherewithal nor the intention to enter into an arms race with any country, and China won’t constitute a threat to any country.’
But his assurances did not comfort Washington, which has repeatedly criticised China’s military spending as opaque, and were unlikely to sway neighbouring powers India and Japan, which have been lifting their own defence spending.
On Sunday, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said it was not the budget increase itself that concerned the United States, but the lack of transparency in China over the intentions of its military rise.
‘I think the point we would make with respect to military spending and military acquisition of various types would be the point about transparency,’ he told a news conference in Beijing, adding that Washington was dissatisfied with the level of detail China provides about its military.
US Vice President Dick Cheney on a recent visit to Asia said that China’s anti-satellite test and military buildup were ‘not consistent with Beijing’s stated goal of a peaceful rise’.
The PLA’s 17.8 percent rise is the biggest recorded in the past decade, and was announced two months after China test-fired an anti-satellite missile, drawing criticisms of military brashness from Washington and regional capitals.
Jiang said China’s defence outlay was dwarfed by the Pentagon’s budget.
The Bush administration has requested $484.1 billion for the Defence Department in the next fiscal year starting from October 2007. That figure does not cover military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
‘Compared to other countries, especially major powers, China’s defence spending is relatively low,’ Jiang said.
China’s 2007 increase comes after a 14.7 percent increase in its defence spending in 2006.
But international experts have estimated that China’s true military spending may be three or more times the official figure, with much money involving weapons development and purchases, secret programmes and businesses, and paramilitary forces not shown in the public books.
High-tech war
The commander of the PLA General Logistics Department, Liao Xilong, said the budget hike was needed at a time of international uncertainty.
‘The present-day world is none too peaceful, and to protect national security, stability and territorial integrity, we must suitably increase spending on military modernisation,’ Liao told the official Xinhua news agency.
Liao, who helps steer the PLA’s arms upgrade, said more money would go toward enhancing the military’s high-tech strengths, especially improving command systems, conducting complex joint exercises and training for war when electronic communications networks are attacked.
Xu Guangyu, a former PLA officer now at the government-backed China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said some of the extra money would probably go to the Second Artillery Battalion, which wields China’s nuclear missiles.
‘Our armaments systems are still second class. The West really doesn’t have reason to be alarmed, especially given China’s size and the length of its borders,’ Xu told Reuters. ‘We need to raise the quality and accuracy of missile systems.’
China is seeking to modernise its huge but often poorly equipped military force of over 2 million personnel so Beijing can extend its strategic reach and maintain pressure on Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China says must accept eventual reunification.
Jiang warned that China would be vigilant against any moves to press for Taiwan’s independence, and hinted that military force remains an option.
‘We will use all our sincerity and efforts to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but absolutely will not tolerate Taiwan independence,’ he said.
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