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China Increases Military Spending

Despite the good will China hopes to see from hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, the communist country is adding more punch to its armed forces. China says it will add 15 percent more funding to its military spending, bringing it to US$3.49 billion in 2006. U.S. experts are wary of the official number, saying China routinely spends more than it tells the world. For example, some estimates of China`s military spending put it at nearly three times the stated number.

While government spokesman Jiang Enzhu says the money will not go to an increased stockpiling of arms, he admits China "needs to modestly increase spending on some armaments and improve the defensive fighting capacity of the military." However, Jiang says the addition is only in proportion to his nation`s rising economy, "China`s defense budget has risen in recent years along with the development of its economy.But the proportion of the budget given over to defense spending is much the same as in past years."

Mr. Jiang also says the money will go to pay for wages, training, rising oil costs, and other expenses. Also, Chinese officials are quick to point out that the amount of money, regardless of percentage of GNP, spent on the military in China comes nowhere near to the amount spent by the U.S. government.