China announced a defence budget for 2014 of $132 billion which is an increase of 12.2% on the year before. This sets off a flurry of alarm among neighboring countries. They see the relentless growth in China's military spending- double digit increases almost every year for the past two decades, and now the biggest in three years. This growing military capability causes concern. Even though China's military budget is only about a third the size of America's but, if present trends continue, the gap will quickly narrow. Japan, Korea and Vietnam are raising their military spending in response to the Chinese military build-up, but China will still vastly outspend the combined efforts of all its maritime neighbors.
http://www.economist.com/news/china/21599046-chinas-fast-growing-defence-budget-worries-its-neighbours-not-every-trend-its-favour
3 comments:
I am curious as to whether this increase is associated with Russia's recent foreign policy. China and Russia are not most fond of each other but they understand that only together they can pose a threat to the West and primarily to the United States. This move might be both defensive to protect itself from Putin schizophrenia, or to put pressure on US, or both. The arms race seems to have no stop in near future and cost of conflicts becomes more vast. On one hand the implications prevent world powers from leaving the negotiation table and strapping on the boots, but on the other hand how long sustainable this strategy will be especially if the man like Putin or worse becomes a leader of one of the superpowers.
I thought it was interesting how they have shifted from low-paid recruits in the army to a more professional and technically adept force. This has caused higher wages of skilled workers in the army as well as civilian life. It will be interesting to see how successful this will be in China and how quickly the shift was succeed.
This is an interesting strategy for China. It makes me curious as to what the main causes were for making a decision like this. I wonder if the US has any response for this or if it'll even affect us at all. With what is going on with Russia and the Ukraine, it is interesting to see other countries taking action with their military. Definitely something to keep an eye on.
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