China's Military Budget Rises Nearly 15 Percent

Defence Talk ^ | Tue, 7 Mar 2006, 00:45 | Voice of America

[spikeytx86]

China's military budget for this year will rise almost 15 percent to more than $35 billion.

A spokesman for the National People's Congress made the announcement Saturday, one day before China's parliament starts its annual session.

He said the increase will be spent mainly on salaries and fuel, and underlined that China is committed to a path of peaceful development.

China has had double-digit increases in military spending nearly every year since the early 1990s, causing unease among its neighbors.

Much of the country's weapons arsenal is deployed against Taiwan, the island Beijing regards as a renegade province.

Tensions rose this past week after Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian scrapped a council for eventual unification.

[Old_Mil]

Just keep telling yourself that the world is flat, and everything will work out just fine.

[Thunder90]

Russia also has a military budget of about $25-40 billion. But, communist military budgets in monietary terms doesn't mean much, because the government can control the costs of production and there is no profit margin.

[spikeytx86]

I know the Chinese are up to no good. That's why I posted the article. There is no reason for sustained annual increases of 10-15% annually.

[Dr. Marten]

"I know the Chinese are up to no good. That's why I posted the article. There is no reason for sustained annual increases of 10-15% annually."

Really? Just because a country is building its military might, does not necessarily mean that it's up to no good.

Need I mention that their budget is still far, far below that of the US?

[boycottliberalhollywood.com]

Well, what with all the money they've made producing merch for Wal-Mart, it's no wonder they can spend a bit extra on their war machine aimed at Taiwan and the US.

"China - Targeting America. Always."


(sorry, it's late and I'm trolling)

[spikeytx86]

35 Billion is the "Official" budget, defense analysts have speculated it could be upward of $50-75 Billion.

And what it is building up is projection capability and weapons that would only be needed against one particular nation... us. I posted the article because the news is that it admits to increasing it's budget 15%, the rest is just the official line from the reds.

[GSlob]

Their budget numbers would need serious upward correction - the cost structures in China are seriously different from our reference scale [think cheap labor. What could be the production costs of an AK-47 vs. the costs of M-16?] Also, a lot of military expenditures are probably hidden in other budgetary items.

[Westlander]

Been to a walmart twice. Cheap junk. Second visit was to return the defective product purchased on visit one.

[spikeytx86]

My family used to be devout "Wal-Martians" after this past holiday season getting treated by some of the rudest people I have ever met, false ads, and crappy commie junk we took our business elsewhere. If we shop at a big box store now it is usually target. They still sell a lot of Chinese stuff but I have at least found a couple of products made in the USA there.

[gogoman]

But, communist military budgets in monietary terms doesn't mean much, because the government can control the costs of production and there is no profit margin.

It's not just that, costs of production is afterall affected by costs of raw materials and labor, there's only so much you can smudge, and China's labor is already really cheap. Also much of China's economy has been working on a market system for some time now; its state enterprises are no doubt also affected by the market.

The main problem that Rumsfeld pointed out is that the Chinese military budget does not include foreign purchases (i.e., from Russia).

[gogoman]

Been to a walmart twice. Cheap junk. Second visit was to return the defective product purchased on visit one.

It's not just Walmart. It's hard to buy something you want that is not Made in China in most chain retail stores in the US. If you have an Ipod, you are owning a Made in China product.

[PhilDragoo]

In Singapore in June, Rumsfeld cited China's "escalating" military budget and ruminated, "Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder why this growing investment?" He returned to the theme recently while visiting China. In Beijing, the defense secretary complained that China's "rapid, non-transparent" buildup was sending "mixed signals" to the world.

[Captainpaintball]

Why so mad at Chinese? Chinese flendry! Vely vely flendry! Now if you must excuse me, I have to go shut down Christran plo-democlacy broggers and arert autholities!

[gogoman]

And what it is building up is projection capability and weapons that would only be needed against one particular nation... us.

Japan spends more on defense annually than China does, and Japan has a pacifist constitution, not to mention US military alliance. The Japanese navy (SDF) on its own is far far superior to the Chinese navy right now. China is in a rough neighborhood, it's surrounded by not-quite-allies.

[buwaya]

The big escalating factor is labor costs. They work cheap.

[gogoman]

Why so mad at Chinese? Chinese flendry! Vely vely flendry! Now if you must excuse me, I have to go shut down Christran plo-democlacy broggers and arert autholities!

Dude, it's the Japanese that don't distinguish r's from l's. Their "sayonara" sounds like "sayonala" to our ears. The Japanese transcription of Lincoln is "Rinkon."

But the Chinese have r's and l's, and their l's sound exactly like the English l's, and their r's are close to English r's.

[bad company]

It's not just Walmart. It's hard to buy something you want that is not Made in China in most chain retail stores in the US. If you have an Ipod, you are owning a Made in China product.

You hear that sound? It's the sound of all the wal-mart haters quickly scrolling past your post.

[Westlander]

No iPod here. Actually this pc is a 'throw away' from the State of Michigan. $100. AMD 2.0, DVD burner, 1 gig of memory, 120 gig hard drive, 6 USB 2.0 ports, floppy, XP Pro, Office, Corel, Symantec till 2010, Thanks Jennifer Granholm ! Bought at pc store, the guy marked up the price 50%.

[spikeytx86]

Japan has very advanced toys, but it dose not have the men or the stomach for a war against china. They could easily fend off the Chinese but that is about it. There days of empire are long gong. India is not a threat to china, it's the other way around, china is cozy with Pakistan and Iran, the rest outside of Russia are all backwaters with no real military. And though Russia is a strong threat on there border, they have also been cozying up to Beijing. The toys they are buying also have capabilities of projection much farther then japan.

If we just sit back and watch, by 2025 - 2035 the pacific will no longer be ours.>