Huge boost in military spending by Chinese

[helderheid]

Mary-Anne Toy Herald Correspondent in Beijing and agencies
March 5, 2007

CHINA will boost military spending by almost 18 per cent this year, a higher than predicted increase that will unnerve the US and fuel fears about the real nature of the "peaceful rise" of the world's most populous country.

The increase was revealed yesterday in a briefing before today's opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament. It continues the trend of double-digit defence spending increases that has drawn criticism from the US and concerns from neighbours such as Japan and Taiwan.

Jiang Enzhu, a spokesman for the parliament, told the briefing that the People's Liberation Army's 2007 budget would be 350.92 billion yuan ($58 billion), a 17.8 per cent increase from last year. This represents 7.5 per cent of China's total budget spending for the year and follows last year's 14.7 per cent increase in defence spending. Last year's military budget was 283.8 billion yuan but American and other analysts have long suggested that China's real military spending is up to three times that amount.

China has the world's largest army - 2.3 million soldiers - but its technological capacity lags massively behind that of the US.

However it has been trying to reduce the size of the army and provide long overdue pay rises and improved conditions to remaining troops to improve morale and efficiency.

The aim is to have a smaller but better trained and equipped military force. China also needs to renew its naval and other capacities and is trying to reduce its heavy reliance on imports for advanced weapons systems by developing its own military technology. It recently, for example, unveiled a domestically designed fighter jet.

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[Hand]

1. Hmm...

Wonder how much of that boost is financed by Wal-Mart? :grr:

[Rydz777]

6. Hearings

I watched the hearings last week in which the new intelligence czar McConnell appeared before Sen. Levin's committee. Sen. Webb made a good point that the Chinese and American military account for personnel costs in quite different ways, and when made comparable, Chinese military expenditures are even higher than they appear.

As for Wal-Mart,it is really the Great Wall Mart of China, a "fifth column" in this country selling us down the river (choose your river, but I say it is the Yangtze.)

[Subdivisions]

2. "...smaller but better trained and equipped military force."

Could they be stupid enough to take on Rummy as a defense consultant?

[Benhurst]

3. $58 Billion Dollars! Dear god, that's obscene. No nation, not

even one of 1½ Billion people can justify such spending. What warmongers! Why can't they follow BushAmerica's example of Truth, Justice and the American way?

[Selatius]

4. Per capita, they're approaching US levels of defense spending.

The Chinese economy is roughly 1/5th the size of the US economy at present. If their economy were our size, they'd be spending 290 billion dollars or 58 billion multiplied by 5.

[dkofos]

5. Should we be worried about them spending 45 Billion or the US

spending 10 times that much.

For me it is the latter.

and yes this is the same answer I gave you in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x335290

Only you have changed the amount to 58bil this time

Where are the mods today??

[TexasLawyer]

7. China not bogged down

The Chinese are laughing all the way to the bank at how the US has gotten bogged down in a perpetual war in the Middle East.

China can pour its money into military training, educating engineers and physicists, creating sophisticated weaponry, etc. while the US depletes its treasury, demoralizes and degrades its military, and hollows out its economy.

Brilliant!