China plans steep increase in defense spending budget
BEIJING — China announced a double - digit increase in military spending Sunday, a rise that comes amid an intensifying strategic rivalry between the United States and China in Asia and concerns in Washington about the secrecy surrounding the Chinese defense budget.
The increase, reported at 11.2 percent, is in step with the increased pace of military spending by China over the past decade, but the official statement did not give details of what weapons systems China is developing or offer a description of military strategy beyond protection of the country’s sovereignty. And China analysts say the true figure is probably significantly higher, underreported because much of the military’s de- cision-making is kept opaque.
Washington has pressed China to be more forthcoming about its military intentions, an openness Americans say is necessary in order to ease growing unease in a region where the U.S. maintains important alliances and treaty obligations.
For its part, China, heavily dependent on imported energy, has shown that it wants greater control of the sea lanes off its coast and wants to protect its heavily populated, increasingly wealthy cities on its eastern rim.
This strategy along China’s periphery, known in Washington as “antiaccess, area denial” has in turn prompted calls at the Pentagon for new weapons systems that can overcome China’s eventual capabilities in its coastal waters.
The spokesman of the National People’s Congress, Li Zhaoxing, said at a news conference on Sunday, a day before its annual conclave, that the military spending increase was in line with Chinese economic development. He added that, as a percentage of gross domestic product compared with other countries, specifically the U.S. and Britain, the increase was relatively low.
The total defense budget for 2012 would be increased to $106 billion from $95.6 billion last year, he said. The Obama administration’s proposed defense spending for 2013 calls for a budget of $525.4 billion, a cut of about $5 billion from 2012.
Although Li said the budget covered research and development and new weapons systems as well as personnel costs, Western and Chinese analysts say the announcement represents an undercounting of the real expenditure.
The Chinese navy, air force and the 2nd Artillery Corps, which runs the strategic nuclear forces, benefit most from the increased defense spending, experts in both countries say.