China already spends more on its military than any country in the world except the US. Now, as defense budgets at the Pentagon and in many NATO countries shrink, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is gearing up for a surge in new funding, according to a new report.
China will spend US$148 billion on its military this year, up from US$139.2 billion last year, according to IHS Jane’s, a defense industry consulting and analysis company.
The US spends far more — a forecast US$574.9 billion this year — but that is down from US$664.3 billion in 2012 after budget cuts slashed spending.
By next year China will spend more on defense than the UK, Germany and France combined, according to IHS. By 2024, it will spend more than all of Western Europe, it estimates.
The surge in weapons spending by Beijing — military outlays this year are set to be a third higher than in 2009 — has come in tandem with an escalation in tensions with its neighbors over long-standing territorial disputes.
The extra spending has bought some flashy hardware. In 2012 China commissioned its first aircraft carrier — the Liaoning — built from the hull of an uncompleted ship ordered by the Soviet navy in the 1980s. A Chinese-made aircraft with stealth radar-evading capabilities flew on a test flight in 2011 as then-US secretary of defense Robert Gates was in Beijing on an official visit.
However, the PLA has been plagued by corruption scandals that may sap its fighting effectiveness.
Seven decades ago, US General Joseph Stilwell was frustrated by corrupt Chinese Nationalist generals who were often more interested in lining their pockets than fighting the Japanese.
Last month, the Chinese magazine Caixin detailed allegations about the extravagant lifestyle of Chinese Lieutenant General Gu Junshan (谷俊山), a deputy head of the PLA’s General Logistics Department. Among the items confiscated from his villa complex were a gold wash basin and a gold statue of Mao Zedong (毛澤東), Caixin reported.
One military analyst, Ian Easton of the Project 2049 Institute in Arlington, Virginia, believes that China’s military is far less capable than its large military budget would suggest.
Last month he wrote that the PLA probably would not be able to effectively attack Taiwan.
In addition, Chinese troops lack real combat experience and some of the PLA’s marquee projects, including the aircraft carrier, are plagued by technical problems.
Chinese pilots are using the Liaoning — its overhaul easy to monitor over the years from the fire escape at an Ikea furniture store in the port of Dalian — as a training platform to learn aircraft carrier operations.
The US Navy currently has 10 active nuclear-powered carriers, all larger than the Liaoning.
China is set to release its military spending for last year and its forecast for this year at the annual session of the National People’s Congress next month in Beijing.
The IHS figures may differ from official figures because they take into account items, including research and development spending and pension costs, that may not be reflected in China’s own estimates.
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
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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
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