China unveils 18% rise in defence budget

By Jon Grevatt Jane's Asia-Pacific Industry Reporter

China has announced plans to raise defence spending by 17.8 per cent in Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) to nearly CNY350.92 billion (USD45.4 billion).

A leading East Asian defence expert has told Jane's that the increases in China's defence spending - added to the recent weapons test in which the military destroyed a weather satellite in space - are blatant messages to Washington.

Ron Huisken, a senior fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said: "These numbers look like they come from a country in a hurry. This sustained increase in military spending is serious in its magnitude and the like that is often not seen in any major powers in the absence of any crises such as war.”

Huisken added that he believed that the defence rises would cause concern in Washington.

"It could easily be assumed that we are heading for an arms race between the US and China," he said. "Of course there are those that say in the Pentagon 'we are technologically generations ahead of China - there is no need to worry'. But this thinking could change the more money China spends on defence and the more capability it has of challenging US objectives."

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© 2007 Jane's Information Group
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