Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Red Alert: China’s defense spending increases while U.S. cuts back

China’s Communist Party leaders Tuesday announced their spending plans for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) this year, repeating last year’s double-digit growth in Beijing’s military budget, just as their only effective rival, the United States, is slashing defense spending across the board.
China’s annual defense spending will rise by 10.7 percent to 720.2 billion yuan ($114.3 billion) in 2013, according to the official newspaper China Daily.
Last year, China’s military budget grew by 11.6 percent, the paper reported, citing budget documents published Tuesday at the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC). The NPC is China’s rubber-stamp parliament which is meeting in one of its infrequent sessions to endorse the once in a decade generational transfer of power within China’s gerontocratic leadership.

No comments:

Post a Comment