hina on Saturday announced that it will increase its defence spending by around seven per cent this year, the slowest hike since 2010, even as it vowed to guard against “outside forces” interfering in its territorial disputes.
The increase in defence spending announced by Fu Ying, the spokesperson of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), is expected to take the country’s defence budget to about 1.02 trillion yuan, which is three times bigger than India’s new defence budget of USD 53.5 billion.
he nearly seven per cent increase could be China’s slowest defence budget rise in at least a decade, marking the second time for the defence budget increase to dip into the single digit since 2010, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Last year, China increased its defence spending by 7.6 per cent, allocating about 954 billion yuan (around USD 143.7 billion).
A year before that, China increased the defence spending by about 15 per cent as part of its efforts to modernise the world’s largest military of 2.3 million troops.
Much of China’s budget this year was expected to go for the development of navy as the second largest economy looks to expand its influence beyond its shores.
China’s claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea have caused a lot of concern in the region.
China currently has one aircraft carrier and is building another. Chinese defence officials say that the third is also in the pipeline to match the growing strength of US navy in hotspots like the disputed South China Sea.
“China’s military capacity building will be continued. This is the requirement for safeguarding our national sovereignty and security,” Fu told media.
She said China’s defence budget accounted for 1.3 per cent of the country’s GDP, compared with NATO members’ pledge to dedicate at least two per cent of GDP to defence.
http://indianexpress.com/article/wo...ng-in-2017-to-rise-around-7-per-cent-4554623/
The increase in defence spending announced by Fu Ying, the spokesperson of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), is expected to take the country’s defence budget to about 1.02 trillion yuan, which is three times bigger than India’s new defence budget of USD 53.5 billion.
he nearly seven per cent increase could be China’s slowest defence budget rise in at least a decade, marking the second time for the defence budget increase to dip into the single digit since 2010, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Last year, China increased its defence spending by 7.6 per cent, allocating about 954 billion yuan (around USD 143.7 billion).
A year before that, China increased the defence spending by about 15 per cent as part of its efforts to modernise the world’s largest military of 2.3 million troops.
Much of China’s budget this year was expected to go for the development of navy as the second largest economy looks to expand its influence beyond its shores.
China’s claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea have caused a lot of concern in the region.
China currently has one aircraft carrier and is building another. Chinese defence officials say that the third is also in the pipeline to match the growing strength of US navy in hotspots like the disputed South China Sea.
“China’s military capacity building will be continued. This is the requirement for safeguarding our national sovereignty and security,” Fu told media.
She said China’s defence budget accounted for 1.3 per cent of the country’s GDP, compared with NATO members’ pledge to dedicate at least two per cent of GDP to defence.
http://indianexpress.com/article/wo...ng-in-2017-to-rise-around-7-per-cent-4554623/
