China’s defense budget to grow 12.7% in 2011
Mar. 7, 2011
By Ko Hirano
China said Friday it plans to increase its military spending by 12.7 percent in 2011 from the previous year to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.5 billion), resuming a double-digit growth that could rekindle concerns among Japan and other regional powers about Beijing's military buildups.
The rate of growth exceeds a 7.5 percent increase in the initial state budget for 2010. Prior to last year, China's defense budget had posted a double-digit growth for 21 straight years.
Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the National People's Congress, China's parliament, unveiled the figures at a news conference in reference to a budgetary request the State Council will propose to the NPC, whose annual session will open Saturday and run through March 14.
China has been promoting military buildups, such as completion of the prototype J-20, China's first radar-evading stealth fighter, in January, and research and development of a domestic aircraft carrier and anti-carrier ballistic missiles.
Deflecting concerns about Beijing's rising military expenditures, Li said that China ''adheres to a path of peaceful development,'' and that the country ''follows a national defense policy that is defensive in nature.''
Li, a former foreign minister, said the envisaged defense outlays will account for 6 percent of the 2011 national budget, down from 6.3 percent in the initial 2010 budget.
Major parts of the spending would be earmarked for armament development, military training, human resources development, infrastructure for grassroots armed forces units and improvement of the living standards of servicemen, according to Li.
He added that the ratio of defense spending to gross domestic product is ''far lower'' in China than in many countries in the world, and he insisted that China's military spending is transparent.
Some China observers, however, contend that Beijing's real defense budget is two to three times more than the official figures, given its exclusion of costs related to research and development for weapons and space development projects.
The U.S. Defense Department suspects China's defense spending would be 1.7 to 2.5 times larger than the announced amount. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates Beijing's defense expenditures are about 1.45 times more than the announced level.
Turning to economic issues, Li said the government has set the target of curbing an increase in the consumer price index at ''around 4 percent'' in 2011 from the previous year in an effort to tame accelerating inflation and ensure sound economic growth.
The Chinese public has grown concerned about sharp rises in food and real estate prices. The CPI, a key gauge of inflation, jumped 4.9 percent in January from a year earlier, after rising 4.6 percent in December and 5.1 percent in November, the fastest increase in two years and four months.
The NPC annual session will focus on an economic blueprint for the next five years that will guide the world's second-largest economy onto a sustainable growth path driven by domestic consumption while reducing heavy reliance on exports and investment.
In the 12th five-year plan from 2011 to 2015, which the NPC will adopt on the final day of the session, the government is to set the annual economic growth target at an average 7 percent, down slightly from 7.5 percent per year in the previous five-year period until last year.
With the new five-year plan, the leadership headed by President Hu Jintao vows to address a widening gap between the rich and the poor and pursue economic restructuring through expansion of domestic demand.
According to an online survey jointly conducted by Xinhuanet.com and Sina.com among nearly 1 million people surveyed as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the top five concerns are housing prices, income distribution, inflation and commodity prices, combating corruption, and employment promotion and equal employment opportunities, according to Xinhua News Agency.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on March 4, 2011)
China said Friday it plans to increase its military spending by 12.7 percent in 2011 from the previous year to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.5 billion), resuming a double-digit growth that could rekindle concerns among Japan and other regional powers about Beijing's military buildups.
The rate of growth exceeds a 7.5 percent increase in the initial state budget for 2010. Prior to last year, China's defense budget had posted a double-digit growth for 21 straight years.
Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the National People's Congress, China's parliament, unveiled the figures at a news conference in reference to a budgetary request the State Council will propose to the NPC, whose annual session will open Saturday and run through March 14.
China has been promoting military buildups, such as completion of the prototype J-20, China's first radar-evading stealth fighter, in January, and research and development of a domestic aircraft carrier and anti-carrier ballistic missiles.
Deflecting concerns about Beijing's rising military expenditures, Li said that China ''adheres to a path of peaceful development,'' and that the country ''follows a national defense policy that is defensive in nature.''
Li, a former foreign minister, said the envisaged defense outlays will account for 6 percent of the 2011 national budget, down from 6.3 percent in the initial 2010 budget.
Major parts of the spending would be earmarked for armament development, military training, human resources development, infrastructure for grassroots armed forces units and improvement of the living standards of servicemen, according to Li.
He added that the ratio of defense spending to gross domestic product is ''far lower'' in China than in many countries in the world, and he insisted that China's military spending is transparent.
Some China observers, however, contend that Beijing's real defense budget is two to three times more than the official figures, given its exclusion of costs related to research and development for weapons and space development projects.
The U.S. Defense Department suspects China's defense spending would be 1.7 to 2.5 times larger than the announced amount. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates Beijing's defense expenditures are about 1.45 times more than the announced level.
Turning to economic issues, Li said the government has set the target of curbing an increase in the consumer price index at ''around 4 percent'' in 2011 from the previous year in an effort to tame accelerating inflation and ensure sound economic growth.
The Chinese public has grown concerned about sharp rises in food and real estate prices. The CPI, a key gauge of inflation, jumped 4.9 percent in January from a year earlier, after rising 4.6 percent in December and 5.1 percent in November, the fastest increase in two years and four months.
The NPC annual session will focus on an economic blueprint for the next five years that will guide the world's second-largest economy onto a sustainable growth path driven by domestic consumption while reducing heavy reliance on exports and investment.
In the 12th five-year plan from 2011 to 2015, which the NPC will adopt on the final day of the session, the government is to set the annual economic growth target at an average 7 percent, down slightly from 7.5 percent per year in the previous five-year period until last year.
With the new five-year plan, the leadership headed by President Hu Jintao vows to address a widening gap between the rich and the poor and pursue economic restructuring through expansion of domestic demand.
According to an online survey jointly conducted by Xinhuanet.com and Sina.com among nearly 1 million people surveyed as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the top five concerns are housing prices, income distribution, inflation and commodity prices, combating corruption, and employment promotion and equal employment opportunities, according to Xinhua News Agency.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on March 4, 2011)
