Posted on 03/05/2004 5:36:56 PM PST by yonif
BEIJING (AP) — China on Saturday announced an 11.6 percent hike in military spending for 2004, a bigger increase than last year in an age when the People's Liberation Army is racing to make itself competitive and adapt to a high-tech world.
The figures came in a budget report prepared for delivery by Finance Minister Jin Renqing at the National People's Congress, the country's nominal legislature. They were released at a time when the government has publicly prioritized social programs,
In his remarks, Jin China said the budget deficit would hold steady after years of annual increases. He also outlined a spending increase of $2.64 billion for the PLA.
His budget report did not give the total spending figure for China's military. But last year's announced military budget was $22.4 billion, though the actual figure is believed higher.
This year's increase was allotted "in order to improve the defensive combat readiness of the armed forces under high-tech conditions and to raise the salaries of army personnel and the pensions for ex-servicemen," Jin's remarks said.
"In addition, we must work hard to ensure adequate funding for other expenditures that have a direct overall bearing on reform, development and stability," he said.
Good one. It would be nice if we could give them something constructive to do - otherwise they'll continue their "face-saving" mlschief.
In his remarks, Jin China said the budget deficit would hold steady after years of annual increases. He also outlined a spending increase of $2.64 billion for the PLA.The Peace and Love Association.
Yes. That would be wonderful.
So eternal viligance is the order of the day, as always.
Kim Jong-Il visited China, won nuclear crisis backing -- reportNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-Il paid a secret visit to China last month, shortly after the start of the war in Iraq... During his visit, the reclusive Kim met new Chinese President Hu Jintao, who said China would not "stand idle" if relations deteriorated further between Pyongyang and Washington, according to Strategic Forecasts... South Korean officials said they were unable to confirm the visit, which Strategic Forecasts said succeeded in healing a rift between Pyongyang and Beijing over Beijing's detention in October of Yang Bin, a Chinese citizen chosen by North Korea to head a proposed new economic zone at Sinuiju on the border with China.
Agence France Presse
Fri Apr 11 2003China passes law on population controlThe "provisions" of the new law are legally to be set by provincial authorities, but most stipulate that urban couples can have only one child while rural families are allowed a second child if their first child is a girl. Others allow for a second child if the first is disabled or if both parents came from one-child families. China's ethnic minorities are also allowed more than one child... More than two decades of enforced family planning have yielded results, but horrific stories of forced abortions, infanticide and gender choosing have raised international outcry... Although the use of ultrasound is illegal to determine the sex of a fetus the practice is thought to be widespread, especially in rural areas where families prefer a male child who can go on to be a future breadwinner instead of marrying into another family.
by Kirk TroyMillions Face Water Shortage in North China, Officials WarnMillions of people in northern China face water shortages this summer as the Yellow River falls to its lowest level in 50 years, environmental officials warned today. In addition, more than half the watersheds of China's seven main rivers are contaminated by industrial, farm and household waste, the officials said in a bleak annual report on the nation's environment... Only one-quarter of the 21 billion tons of China's annual output of household sewage is treated, Mr. Xie said. Treatment plants are being built, but will still handle only half of all city sewage, leaving rural waste water untreated. The government has forecast an annual water shortfall of 53 trillion gallons by 2030 — more than China now consumes in a year. In the north, drought and overuse have left the Yellow River so drained that in recent summer low seasons it has dried up before reaching the sea... The 3,415-mile Yellow River winds its way from the mountains of western China to the Bohai Sea in the east, providing water to 12 percent of China's population... The release of the report follows the start last weekend of filling the vast reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in central China -- the world's biggest hydroelectric project.
by The Associated Press
June 6, 2003Confronting Tuberculosis in ChinaNationwide, China faces a daunting TB threat. The World Health Organization estimates up to 500 million Chinese, 40 percent of the population, are infected. Six million have the active, contagious form of TB, which attacks the lungs and then spreads. Some 260,000 Chinese die from TB every year. So serious is the problem that Vice Health Minister Yin Dakui warned last March that TB could slow the country's economic development. In an attempt to control the epidemic, China began the largest TB control project in the world in the 1990s. Although the program doubled the cure rate to 90 percent, it covered only half the country. The end of World Bank financing next year and new drug resistant TB strains threaten those gains.
by Greg Baker
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