Global Times has published an editorial in anticipation of China’s impending military budget announcement, urging the government to maintain double-digit growth and arguing that even if foreigners could not appreciate the need for this, they would learn to live with it.
We hope that the Chinese government will maintain an annual double-digit percentage increase regardless of the pressure from the West ….
… [H]istory proves that the US is prone to hasty military actions. When the US is confident of winning, it tends to use its military pressure in direct fashion ….
If external elements view China as a weak country, it will lead to chaos. The relationship between China and the world should improve by facing this reality. This is one of the bases for long-term stability in the Asia-Pacific.
China should remain composed in dealing with questions raised from its military spending. The outside world should try to understand the necessity of this increase, but if not, they will get used to it.
An IHS Jane’s report last month suggested that China’s military spending would double by 2015. MIT international relations professor M. Taylor Fravel, however, tweeted that this projection was “based on pretty strong assumptions, especially 18.5% annual growth …. Typically, China’s defense budget tracks with government expenditure. It has never averaged 18.5 percent in the past two decades.” Xinhua reported similar criticism from Ma Geng of the PLA National Defense University.
