China dismisses reports of hiding defence expenditure
Beijing: China has dismissed reports that
it is hiding expenditure on defence and claimed that its per capita defence budget was lowest among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
China publishes the national defence white paper every
two years, which is more detailed in military expenditure than
many other countries, Jia Yong, a member of the National
Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC), was quoted as saying by the official media
here today.
While speaking on the sidelines of the sessions of the
National Peoples Congress, he said the reports in the foreign
media alleging that China had hidden defence budget were
merely meant to draw more attention.
On March 5, the Chinese government announced its plans
to increase the defence budget by 7.5 per cent in 2010 to 532.
115 billion yuan (about USD 77 billion).
Last year China hiked the defence 14.9 per cent. China
said it would focus its military spending this year mainly on
modernisation of its military to "win" IT driven "local" wars,
increase the ability of the People's Liberation Army to
respond to "multiple security threats" and to intensify the R
and D to develop new weapons and equipment.