China kept the rise in its military budget to 7.5 percent this year, a spokesman said yesterday, a slowdown that left observers skeptical after an increase in tensions with the US.
Some foreign analysts were surprised by the figure after more than two decades of nearly unbroken double-digit rises in China’s defense budget, and said the announced numbers were unlikely to show the growing power’s real military spending.
“All the evidence suggests that they are on a very powerful trajectory of expansion in substantive terms, and they seem to use this figure for political purposes almost, to send signals,” said Ron Huisken, a China defense expert at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The announcement came after quarrels with the US over human rights, Internet censorship, Tibet and Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan.
Chinese parliamentary spokesman and former foreign minister Li Zhaoxing (李肇星) said the increase would bring the country’s defense budget for the year to 532.1 billion yuan (US$77.95 billion), or 37.1 billion yuan more than what was actually spent on defense last year.
The budget for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) showed Beijing was not seeking confrontation, Li told a news conference a day ahead of the opening of the National People’s Congress.
China has 2.3 million personnel in its armed forces, more than any other nation. The government has sought to slim numbers and lift troop quality by offering better benefits.
“I think the [Chinese] armed forces will be dissatisfied,” said Ikuo Kayahara, a retired Japanese major-general who teaches security studies at Takushoku University.
“The world has been criticizing China for increasing its defense budget by more than 10 percent every year,” he said. “China may be reacting to this by trying to show that it is not focused only on expanding its armed forces.”
Xu Guangyu (徐光宇), a researcher for the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association and retired PLA major general, said he would have been happier with a higher number to fund faster equipment improvements.
“This number comes after we’ve had increases that have basically overcome the problems we faced with poor conditions and wages for military personnel,” he said. “But we do need to keep up a certain rate of growth to reach a necessary level of military modernization. An increase of, say, 10 percent would have been more appropriate.”
Last year, the government set the official military budget at 480.7 billion yuan, a 14.9 percent rise on the one in 2008.
Li indicated actual defense spending last year reached 495 billion yuan, apparently reflecting the fact that government revenues grew more than the budget projected.
In Taipei, Deputy Minister of National Defense Andrew Yang (楊念祖) said his government and the region were wary.
“They’re putting a lot of resources into modernization, including advanced weapons systems,” Yang said. “That kind of improvement certainly raises the eyebrows of surrounding countries in Asia, and especially the US.”
US President Barack Obama has proposed a record US$708 billion in defence spending for the next fiscal year.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique