China Increases Military Spending to Focus on High Tech
By ERIK ECKHOLM
BEIJING, March 6 — China is
increasing military spending
this year by 17.6 percent, or $3
billion, bringing the publicly
reported total to $20 billion, the
finance minister announced today.
In a report to Parliament on the budget for 2002, the
minister, Xiang Huaicheng, said continued large increases
in defense spending were needed for China's military "to
utilize modern technology, especially high technology to
raise our army's defense and combat capabilities," and to
raise salaries for the country's 2.5 million officers and
enlisted men.
The jump in spending follows follows many years of
double-digit increases, reflecting China's effort to upgrade
its oversized, mostly outdated forces and to attract better
educated men into a military that has suffered from low
morale.
The publicly revealed figures do not include major
spending for weapons research and for the purchase of
foreign weapons, like the two Russian-built naval
destroyers China acquired last year. Actual military
spending may be three to five times the reported total of
$20 billion, according to Western experts.
China is believed to spend more on the military than any
other Asian country, but even the higher estimates are well
below American spending levels and the American
technological advantage may, if anything, be growing,
according to some experts. The Bush Administration has
proposed a $379 billion defense budget for the next fiscal
year.
Central Government spending overall will increase by 10
percent in the year ahead, including an expanding deficit
that officials hope will help prop up economic growth
during the global slowdown, Mr. Xiang said today. He
promised a 28 percent increase in spending on living
allowances for the unemployed, pensions, and other social
security measures "in order to protect social stability."
Millions more farmers and workers in decrepit state
industries are expected to lose their jobs in the years
ahead as China further opens its markets to global
competition within the rules of the World Trade
Organization.
nytimes.com |
