China's defence budget to rise 12.7 percent in 2011

BEIJING: China's defence budget will rise 12.7 percent in 2011 to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.7 billion), a government spokesman said on Friday, amid persistent concerns about Beijing's military build-up.

The figure was contained in a budgetary report submitted to the National People's Congress, the parliament's spokesman Li Zhaoxing told a press conference on the eve of the opening of the annual NPC session.

"China has always paid attention to controlling the size of defence spending," Li told reporters, describing spending as "relatively low" compared with the rest of the world.

Li, a former foreign minister, said the figure represented six percent of the total national budget, adding: "This will not pose a threat to any country."

The number however represents a return to double-digit increases, which have alarmed the United States and several of China's Asian neighbours. That trend had been broken last year when the defence budget rose 7.5 percent.

The Peoples Liberation Army the world's largest is hugely secretive about its defence programmes, but insists the modernisation of its army is purely defensive in nature.

Tokyo, Washington and others have nevertheless remained wary of its intentions.

"We regard the modernisation of China's military power and its growing and intense activities as concerns," top Japanese government spokesman Yukio Edano said Thursday, after two Chinese planes approached a disputed island chain.

"Our country will continue to pay close attention to moves by China's military."

Japan has said it plans to send more forces to its scattered southern islands and away from Cold War-era locations in the north near Russia, citing Beijing's increased assertiveness in the East and South China Seas.

The two Asian powers had their worst diplomatic spat in years following collisions in disputed waters in the East China Sea in September between two Japanese coastguard patrol boats and a Chinese fishing vessel.

India's defence minister last month expressed "serious concern" over China's growing military might, pledging that New Delhi would boost its own forces.

The two countries have long-standing border disputes in the Himalayas.

On Monday, India announced a nearly 12 percent jump in defence spending to 36 billion dollars in its annual budget up from a four percent hike last year.

In January, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Beijing to patch up frayed military ties with China and was instead greeted with the maiden flight of China's first next-generation stealth fighter.

Last month, the Pentagon proposed a record "base" defence budget excluding the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan of $553 billion for fiscal year 2012.

"Advances by the Chinese military in cyber and anti-satellite warfare pose a potential challenge to the ability of our forces to operate and communicate in this part of the Pacific," Gates said after his visit to China.

But he added that Washington and Tokyo were well-placed to counter the threat with high-tech hardware and that it was not a foregone conclusion that China would turn into a military rival.

"I disagree with those who portray China as an inevitable strategic adversary of the United States," he said.

"We welcome a China that plays a constructive role on the world stage."