Beijing, March 2 – China is this week set to unveil a new hike in defence spending that is set to dwarf the increase announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Saturday’s budget.
China is likely to continue with the trend of the past few years by announcing a double-digit hike in defence spending on Thursday, which could take China’s military spending past $ 140 billion – more than three and a half times India’s amount.
Jaitley announced that defence spending will rise to Rs. 2.47 lakh crore (around $ 40 billion) in 2015-16. This marked a less than expected 10.8 per cent rise from the revised estimates for last year’s spending, which amounted to Rs. 2.22 lakh crore, and only a 7.4 per cent rise from last year’s stated allocation.
China, by contrast, hiked its defence spending by 12.2 per cent last year, taking its budget to around $132 billion. India’s modest hike surprised some defence analysts, especially considering the massive modernisation plan that the Modi government has pledged to undertake.
China’s new defence budget is expected to be unveiled on Thursday on the first day of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), or Parliament, when Premier Li Keqiang delivers the government work report.
China has announced double-digit increases in recent years, with last year’s 12.2 per cent hike the highest in three years. China had hiked spending by 10.7 per cent the previous year. India’s modest hike means the asymmetry in defence spending across the Himalayas is set to widen even further.
While China’s budget is already three times larger, experts say Beijing has the added advantage of relying on a sizeable indigenous defence manufacturing base, which India lacks.
Considering the often blurred lines between China’s vast domestic aerospace manufacturing sector and its defence production requirements, analysts who study Chinese military accounting say the actual budget is likely far higher than stated.
With India’s continued reliance on imports, India has, in recent years, also had to grapple with the added problem of its depreciating currency which has offset recent budget hikes – for instance, India’s defence budget last year actually fell, in dollar terms.
-INDIA TODAY
