Beijing, March 4 – China’s military budget for 2015 is set to rise by “around 10 per cent” likely crossing $ 140 billion, a top official said on Wednesday speaking a day before the annual session of Parliament opens.
On Thursday, the National People’s Congress or Parliament will open its yearly 10-day long session, during which it will approve this year’s defence budget as well as deliberate laws likely to focus on battling corruption and pushing economic reforms.
The draft defence budget, which the NPC will approve, will be announced on Thursday morning when Premier Li Keqiang delivers a work report at the NPC’s opening session. The budget, keeping with the trend of the past few years, will rise by “around 10 per cent”, NPC spokesperson Fu Ying told reporters on Wednesday.
China’s budget last year was around $130 billion, meaning spending will likely exceed $ 140 billion – more than three and half times India’s amount. “The rough figure suggested for growth of [defence] budget expenditure in 2015 is around 10 per cent, approximately the same as the suggested growth for central budget expenditure,” Fu said.
“Last year the increase was 12.2 per cent, and this year for the specific figure you will see it tomorrow when the draft budget will be submitted to the NPC’s deputies.” This means China’s budget will likely be more than three and a half times India’s, at the very least.
On Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyannounced 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. Fu defended the consecutive double-digit increases amid concerns of many of China’s neighbours of its rapidly expanding military strength.
“China is a large, major country so there is a need for military capabilities to defend the country and people so that general public will have a sense of security,” she said. Fu also made a reference to China’s history of being occupied by colonial powers – the Japanese invasion continues to remain an emotive issue, especially with resurfacing maritime disputes with Japan.
“The historic lesson China learned is that lagging behind means being vulnerable to attack and defence modernization is part and parcel of China’s modernization drive,” Fu said. “We will achieve defence and military modernization and that requires sufficient funding”.
With India facing its own sizeable military modernization challenge, some experts have expressed surprise at India’s modest defence outlay, especially with India lagging behind China in terms of its border infrastructure.
Fu said China’s military policy would remain “defensive” in nature. “Fundamentally speaking China’s military policy is defensive in nature. This is clearly defined in the Constitution and we will not easily change this principle”.
-INDIA TODAY
