Chinas increasing military spending alarming Asian neighbors

South East Asia Post (ANI) Wednesday 24th October, 2012

China's military spending has rapidly shot up, unnerving Beijing's Asian neighbors and policy planners at the Pentagon, who are openly wary about the country's long-term intentions.

According to various international think tanks, China's military spending has risen from about 20 billion dollars in 2002 to at least 120 billion dollars last year.

The United States still spends four times as much on its military. But by some accounts, China is on course to surpass the United States in total military spending by 2035, the Washington Post reports.

According to the paper, some critics, including China's skeptical neighbors, are alarmed at the spending, which they say is being used to bolster China's more assertive stance over long-disputed, uninhabited islands in the South China and East China seas.Longer term, some predict, China's growing military might shift the balance with American-armed Taiwan, which Chinese leaders consider a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland, the paper said.

Experts say the military growth has led the Obama administration to refocus America's defense posture away from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and toward the Asia-Pacific region, and has also caused Japan and some Southeast Asian countries to seek reassurance from the United States that they won't be abandoned.

However, Luo Yuan of the China Military Science Society claimed that China's military spending only reflects the newly booming economy, and the country is simply playing catch up after years of neglect.

"Actually, our rapid spending increase in recent years is more like compensation for the past," he said. (ANI)

Source: http://www.southeastasiapost.com/index.php/sid/210287964/scat/303b19022816233b

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