China has hiked its annual defence budget by 10.7 per cent in the coming year to $115.7 billion, but has sought to allay apprehensions about its growing military muscle, saying it is “good for regional stability.”
This substantial hike in defence budget, unveiled March 5, is bound to worry India’s strategic establishment as the increased outlay is more than thrice of India’s annual defence budget.
The enhanced defence budget is expected to be approved by the National People’s Congress (NPC) or Parliament, which opened its annual session March 5. The announcement gives a clue to the priorities of the new leadership in China which has promised to double the country’s GDP by 2020 and make China an important political and military power.
The week-long parliamentary session will formalise the appointment of new Communist Party of China (CPC) general secretary Xi Jinping as the country’s next president. Li Keqiang will replace Wen Jiabao as Premier.
In a work report released in Beijing by Premier Wen, the government has set the growth target at 7.5 per cent in the coming year. The report also stressed on “accelerating the change of the growth model, adjusting the economic structure and improving the quality and performance of economic growth”.
The powers-that-be in Beijing have robustly defended the increased defence spending, with NPC spokesperson and outgoing Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying saying China is “a big country” and requires a proportionately sizeable outlay “to ensure security”.
The US, which has declared the pivot to Asia, has taken note, but is not unduly worried as its US defence at $531 billion is more than four times that of China’s.
In fact, Fu underlined that China strengthening its defence “is good for stability in this region and for peace in the world”.
“Our foreign policy for peace and our defensive policy have contributed to peace in this region,” she said. “We have upheld this policy for decades and we have never wavered in this commitment.”
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