China unveils biggest rise in military spending in years

BEIJING - CHINA will raise its defence spending by 17.8 per cent this year - the biggest increase in five years - a move likely to draw renewed criticism from the United States and Japan.

It could also give more ammunition to Taiwanese officials pressing for more than US$400 million (S$611 million) to buy missiles from the US to boost the island's air defences.

But a senior Chinese government spokesman maintained that Beijing had no intention of starting an arms race, and said the increase was necessary to 'compensate'' for the under-investment in national defence in the 1980s.

This year's military budget will be raised to about 351 billion yuan (S$69 billion), up 17.8 per cent from last year.

It will be used to boost wages and modernise the training and equipment of the two million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA), said Mr Jiang Enzhu, a spokesman for the National People's Congress (NPC), or Parliament.

He told reporters at a press conference: 'China has neither the wherewithal nor intention to enter into an arms race with anyone. China does not and will not pose a threat to any country.'

The NPC will formally begin its annual legislative session today, where Beijing is set to announce key figures for government spending this year.

China's defence expenditure, in particular, has drawn international concern in recent years. It went up by 14.7 per cent last year, 12.6 per cent in 2005, 11.6 per cent in 2004 and 9.6 per cent in 2003.

In recent months, the PLA has openly showcased a new fighter, declared its ability to build an aircraft carrier and successfully conducted an anti-satellite test in January.

Washington and Tokyo have repeatedly questioned the motives behind Beijing's rising military spending. In a recent Asia tour, US Vice- President Dick Cheney said China's anti-satellite test and military build-up were 'not consistent with its stated goal of a peaceful rise'.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who met senior Chinese officials in Beijing at the weekend, also urged China to be more transparent about its military spending.

'It is important in our dialogue that we understand what it is that the Chinese government has in mind with respect to its military modernisation, what the doctrines are that underlie this and what their intentions are,' he told a press conference yesterday.

Mr Jiang, in anticipation of renewed criticism, recounted several sets of figures to illustrate how China's military spending continued to be modest when compared to other major powers such as the US, Britain and France.

For instance, its military expenditure in 2005 accounted for only 6.19 per cent of US military spending and 52.59 per cent of Britain's, said the spokesman.

China's new military budget is also less than a tenth of the US$484.1 billion that the Bush administration has requested for the US Defence Department - excluding current military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan - in the next fiscal year beginning October 2007.

The assurances, however, are unlikely to convince critics in Washington, Tokyo and Taipei - which announced last week that it was looking to buy 218 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and another 235 Maverick air-to-ground missiles from the US.