Welcome back to India Defence Online...If you haven't done so yet, subscribe to the RSS feed as it will save you a lot of time. Thanks for following the site!
China has achieved yet another double digit increase in its defence budget with an amount of $70.2 billion declared for military spending. This defence allocation is a 15 per cent hike from the previous allocation and China does not consider it a huge amount considering the economic crisis in the world.
While the U.S and China are making efforts to find ways to work together, the U.S has applauded China’s contribution towards anti-piracy and its proffessional and well-conducted operation with the U.S and other navies. China’s military build-up and activities, including the significant naval mission in the Gulf of Aden region has been a welcome surprise for the U.S and other navies.
Since January 2009, two People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) guided missile destroyers and a supply vessel have been patrolling the waters off northeast Africa, protecting Chinese-flagged ships against pirates operating from Somalia. It was the first time PLAN ships had conducted combat operations so distant from its waters which is roughly 3,000 nautical miles from the homeport at Hainan Island in the southern mainland of China for such an extended period. The Gulf of Aden mission is due to last for three months and China has announced that a second taskforce will replace the current one at that point.
However, this may become unsettling for the U.S and other countries since the mission would increase the capabilities of PLAN ships and personnel and transform PLAN from a coastal defense force to one capable of operating effectively at long ranges from home base. Hence, experts feel that this operational deployment can enable them to execute more larger and complex missions.
From the perspective of China, the Chinese government views military not only to defend its borders but as a means to achieve foreign policy and reflect its interests. China has also become keen to contribute to global security and express good interests to its neighbours.
From the U.S point of view, China’s policies and military powers are a threat to Taiwan and so are the arms sales to Iran. Added to this is the dubious nature of defence spending in China. It is well-known that China always gives misleading information regarding the amount it spends to maintain and develop the Chinese military. Considering it is the world’s largest military, defence experts feel the spending is more than $100 billion. In its last annual report to Congress on Chinese military power, the Pentagon estimated that actual military-related spending for 2007 fell somewhere between $97 billion and $139 billion, compared to its declared $46 billion. It is reported that China’s declared budget excludes categories such as foreign acquisitions and military-related research and development.
According to the purchasing power parity data of SIPRI, it is estimated that China in 2007 spent some $140 billion, making it the second biggest military spender. The U.S. spent $547 billion and in third and fourth place were Russia at $78.8 billion and India at 72.7 billion respectively.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
