China's defense spending to increase 7.5% in 2010

http://chinesemil.blogspot.com/

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- China plans to increase its national defense spending by 7.5 percent to 519.082 billion yuan (about 76.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010, according to a draft budget report.

The figure, about 36 billion yuan more than that of last year, consists of 518.577 billion yuan of central government spending and 505 million yuan of transfer payments to local governments.

These funds will be used mainly to modernize the army, according to the draft submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, which started its annual session Friday morning.

Ding Jiye, deputy head of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), offered a more specific breakdown of the defense spending.

"These funds would be used for the PLA's mechanization and informationization, to support the reform of army and improve its capability to deal with varied threats and complete diversified tasks," Ding told Xinhua Friday.

Part of the money would also be spent to improve the servicemen's living standards, as well as basic military facilities, Ding said.

Although China's defense expenditure had been on rise over the past years, "its growth was still limited and the defense spending still fell short," he said.

The PLA would make more efficient use of the defense expenditure to further improve its capabilities, Ding said.

Friday's draft budget report added that China's national defense spending in 2009 came to 482.985 billion yuan, 102.1 percent of the budgeted figure and a year-on-year increase of 72.844 billion yuan or 17.8 percent.

These funds were also used to improve the living conditions and benefits of army officers and enlisted personnel, intensify the development of informationization, increase the army's equipment and supporting facilities by an appropriate amount, and improve its ability to respond to emergencies and disasters.

This is a smart gesture to the world. China shows that it cares more about its international (or business) image than preparations for a war.

I believe that China is being governed by the smartest group of people in her history. This is another demonstration of their acumen. The small 7.5% increase in defense spending (which breaks a twenty-year history of 10%+ increases) signals the CCP's intent of a truly peaceful rise.

It is true that the breathtaking industrialization of China resembles the swift modernization of pre-World War II Germany. However, the similarity ends there. Confucian Chinese do not behave like Teutonic Germans. The Chinese never sent massive armies up the Silk Road.

Using history, culture, traditions, and social values as a guide, it is reasonable to assume that China is reassuring the world that the business of China is mutual win-win trade and prosperity. With the anti-satellite (i.e. ASAT) and midcourse ground-based interceptor (i.e. GBI) tests, it is becoming apparent that China will inevitably become a military superpower; though not at the level of the U.S. for decades to come.

However, China's growing military power should not alarm her neighbors. China is a civilized country. War is not the first response in the Chinese DNA. Demonstrating her sensitivity to the concerns of her neighbors, China has intentionally decelerated the pace of her military advancements by lowering the funding.

A very clear and intelligent signal of peace. This will take the wind out of the proponents of the "China threat" theory.

Absolutely disagree. China's enemies have no intention of letting her rise and will continue to try and subvert China the next 30-100 years. It's very important that she modernise the armed forces as rapidly as possible and increase the defence budget to maximal practical amounts.

With the advent of the internet, it is more clear than ever before in mankind's history that control of the world depends on the control of information, especially culturally. China or any other country may rise up to be a great power but if she's in any way like modern USA and UK (both suffer from having moribund concepts of families and have been divested of morality by economic hawks seeking to capitalise upon whichever market is available), then she will be no different than USA. Since USA is determined that only its way of life be imitated around the globe, for China to be China as envisioned her forefathers, she must be strong militarily.

What's the rush? Remember that everything is relative. China already has the world's second-largest military budget. None of the other major military powers are remotely increasing their military budget by 7.5%. They are all suffering economic problems. The point is that the end-result is still the same. Chinese military spending will eventually catch up to the United States, but at a slower pace. It is worth the trade-off to not alarm the rest of the world.

From the chart titled "Military Expenditure Increase, 1999-2008, selected countries," it is clear that China had the largest percentage "military expenditure increase" among the major countries (in the P-5) for the ten year period.

#1: China with 194% increase
#2: Russia with 172%
#3: USA with 67%
#4: UK with 25%
#5: France with 4%

See fourth chart at http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/wor...litary-spending

"Alarming the rest of the world" is a concept created by USA and UK to hinder China because it's a natural response by the Chinese leaders to fight the propaganda to demonise her. USA and UK are spending hundreds of billions in excess of what they can afford to augment their militaries and the level of technology they've reached no longer affords China the luxury of biding her time to catch up.

At any rate, China is basically modernising her military as fast as possible so this reduction doesn't mean much in the long run. This news only means that China sees no need to mass produce many of the items she has been working on, such as ztz-99G and 054A+, and will instead continue to astutely pour money into the research sector and the next generation of weapons.

Maybe they are not reveling the real figure, why shout like te Inidians did about their neuclear doctorine, the Chinese are smart in that fashion they do what ever is required quitely.

The Chinese have a pretty good record of being honest. It has to do with Chinese culture and the concept of integrity. The need for honesty is rather simple. If other people don't trust what you say then communication breaks down and everyone will be suspicious of your statements and actions. Also, if you lie then others will also feel free to lie. You can't trust their statements either and therefore, you also cannot rely on their statements and plan accordingly. Hence, it is apparent that honesty is necessary for both parties to make rational decisions.

No Chinese leader would willingly lie and lose face. Here is what former U.S. Army general, U.S. Secretary of State, and Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexander Haig said about the Chinese:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymi...-1924-2010.html
"Feb 20, 2010 ... Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., on the transfer of power after the attempted ... But haven't the Chinese done a heck of a lot themselves to engender distrust? ... When they give you their word, they keep it!" ..."

"Haig became pensive, almost sad, but then the old lion started roaring once again: 'That doesn't mean the Chinese are guiltless! They're difficult, prickly people. But that also makes them very reliable people. When they give you their word, they keep it!'"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Haig
"Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. (December 2, 1924 – February 20, 2010) was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.[1] He also served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, the second-highest ranking officer in the Army,[2] and as Supreme Allied Commander Europe commanding all U.S. and NATO forces in Europe.

A veteran of the Korean War and Vietnam War, Haig was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, and the Purple Heart.[3]"

Pretty much spot on with that analysis.

The only thing that I would disagree on is that the Type-054A frigate is actually being mass produced now. It is the first major Chinese weapon system that has reached "world-class" level. There are already 6 frigates in the Chinese Navy and another 2 are being built.

We will have to wait to see systems such as the upcoming Type-052D, Type-095 SSN and the J-XX Fighter for further large-scale unit procurement as the current versions of these types of systems are just not good enough. These systems should be ready by 2015-2017.

be real!
from you link, US had budget announced $517.9 for the Department of Defense in 2008 plus The cost of war (Iraq and Afghanistan) about $170 billion per year. you chopped down the last portion costs, use it to compare the over-cooked Chinese number $122B? look the the top message... "China plans to increase its national defense spending by 7.5 percent to 519.082 billion yuan (about 76.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010, according to a draft budget report." That means 2008 Chinese budget was about $50s billion more or less which is just 10% of US defense number, 8% of US if exclude the $170B war fee/year.

at that tiny number, China grow its budget 50% a year for the next a few year is not too much.
China should spend 5% of GDP on defense. it is around rational number.
5% of $5 trillion GDP is $250 billion. China should stand up like a man.

edited

It's not much increase for this year. The reason might be connected to present economic burden of governmental budget. Chinese actual spending is indeed a little more than the numbers according to US calculation because our space tech and a big part of R&D are not counted in as portions of military expenditure.

Chinese official budget for this year is $76.3 billion. include the R&D what about $100B. China is large country still on post civil war age, spend that little budget on defense watch the county is divided in different parts without united, cant imagine China is going to be a power.
a strong country should have a strong defense, invest more on military means invest on top end technology. technology is a country's future. spend under 2% GDP on defense is sleeping power.

If you spend too much, China risks having the same economic problems of budget deficits and escalating interest payments as the United States. The United States spends 4% of GDP on defense and that's too much. China is spending roughly 1.5% to 2% and that's about the right amount.

Russia is not about to engage in an all-out nuclear exchange. No country, except for the United States, can militarily threaten China. To match the United States, China needs time to catch up technologically. No amount of spending can produce a F-22 fighter or B-2 bomber in a short period of time.

If China ramps up her military spending to 5% of GDP, she will run huge budget deficits. That's a recipe for disaster. Right now, China's budget expenditures already exceed her tax revenues by $165 billion U.S. dollars. It doesn't make any sense to go further into debt. War is not imminent and more spending cannot overcome the U.S. technological advantage in the short or medium term.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/th...ok/geos/ch.html

"Budget:

revenues: $972.3 billion
expenditures: $1.137 trillion (2009 est.)

Public debt:

18.2% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 108
15.6% of GDP (2008 est.)"

I think China omitted intentionally "1" infront 7.5% from the declaration in order not to alarm Chinese bashers in western countries.

Could be.

We aren't that good with figures , especially when it comes to government announcements as evidenced by the recent fiasco in housing price increase on national level.