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China to spend 18 percent more on military in 2007
by Elaine FreiA spokesman for China’s National People’s Congress said on Sunday that the country will increase its spending on defense by almost 18 percent from last year to Rmb350.9 billion ($45.3 billion, £23.3 billion, €34.4 billion). This is the largest yearly increase in a number of years and will amount to about 7.5 percent of China’s budgeted spending for the year. The real amount spent by China on its military is thought to be much higher.
Liao Xilong, a member of China’s central military commission, was quoted in the Chinese press as calling the increase moderate and in line with China’s overall economic development. In a recent white paper, China said that it estimated that its military spending in 2005 was 6.2 percent that of US spending and just above half of what the UK spends.
Announcement of the increase in military spending by China comes at a time when officials of US President George W. Bush’s administration have criticized China for its military spending and programs. Vice president Dick Cheney recently called China’s peacetime spending for the military was “not consistent” with its currently stated policies, while US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte said Sunday that China needs to explain their “plans and intentions” are in relation to its military. China, for its part, has criticized US plans to sell several hundred missiles to Taiwan.
The National People’s Congress spokesman, Jiang Enzhu, said that the main reason for the increase in spending was to shore up the armed forces’ “weak foundation”, and that most of it would go toward wages and to upgrades to equipment and living quarters for armed forces personnel.
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