Tutto come previsto…

China plans to boost its official defence budget by 11.2 per cent this year as Beijing is balancing the modernisation of its armed forces against the need to keep military spending in line with economic development.
Defence expenditure is budgeted to rise to Rmb670.247bn ($110bn) in 2012, Li Zhaoxing, spokesman of the National People’s Congress, told reporters a day before China’s rubber stamp parliament opens to hear premier Wen Jiabao’s budget report.
The rate of increase is slightly lower than last year’s 12.7 per cent but in line with the growth trajectory over the past two decades. China has reported double-digit increases in official military spending for each year since 1989 except for 2009, when the announced growth rate dropped to 7.5 per cent.
Beijing says it is committed to keeping military spending in line with the overall pace of economic development.
Foreign analysts agree that Beijing’s official defence budget does not represent the full amount China spends on the military, but most external estimates still assume that the overall growth trajectory of military spending is in line with the announced figure.

 Fonte: Financial Times

The Pentagon estimated China’s real total military outlays in 2010 were over $160 billion, which would easily make it the world’s second-biggest defense spender after the United States.
(…) But China’s military modernization should be kept in perspective, said Michael Beckley, a research fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, who has studied the strength of China and the United States.
“There’s no doubt China’s new hardware has important symbolic value and, at least in the case of the ASBM, important coercive value – the U.S. navy has to think twice now before getting too close to China’s shores,” Beckley said in emailed comments, referring to China’s anti-ship ballistic missile.
“But the PLA’s progress needs to be viewed in the context of China’s low level of economic development,” he added.
“China’s economic weaknesses constrain its ability to produce cohesive military systems that link weapons and soldiers to sensors, satellites and command centers.”

Fonte: Reuters