China bolsters defence spending by 7 pc

China will increase its defence spending by "around seven per cent" this year, as it vowed to guard against "outside meddling" in its territorial disputes.

The increase in defence spending was announced by Fu Ying, the spokesperson of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, ahead of its annual meeting.

She said China's defence spending will remain around 1.3 per cent of the country's GDP.

"We call for a peaceful settlement through dialogue and consultation (of the disputes). At the same time we need the ability to safeguard our sovereignty and interests and rights," Fu said.

"In particular, we need to guard against outside meddling in the disputes," she said.

Fu, however, did not elaborate on what "meddling" she was referring to and also did not mention the disputes in question.

China's claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea have caused a lot of concern in the region.

Last year, China increased its defence spending by 7.6 per cent, allocating about 954 billion yuan (around $143.7 billion or Rs 9.5 lakh crore), the lowest increase in six years.

China's announcement to increase defence spending comes after US President Donald Trump vowed a 10 per cent increase in America's military spending.

The 10 per cent proposed increase for the US defence budget of about $600 billion (Rs 40 lakh crore) was expected to add another $54 billion (rs 3.6 lakh crore) to it.

Much of China's defence budget was expected to go for the development of the navy.

The increase in China's military expenditure, especially for the navy, is aimed at safeguarding the country's fast expanding overseas interests and is in response to the unstable security situation in the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese military experts were quoted as saying by the state-run Global Times last week.

Chu Yin, associate professor at the University of International Relations, said, China's rapid military development is a recurrent trend with the country's rising economic power, and is entirely legitimate and reasonable.

"It doesn't need Trump as an excuse," he told the daily.

"How can China protect millions of overseas Chinese and huge amounts of overseas investment and projects worth billions of US dollars without a powerful navy?" Chu asked.

"The global security situation has worsened in recent years, and China has conducted several successful evacuation missions for Chinese nationals, such as in Libya and Yemen, and such missions require the PLA navy to have reliable capability on a global scale," Chu said.

Additionally, China is currently the world's largest trading nation, so the country is heavily reliant on free trade, and the world also needs to trade with China, Chu said.

The report, citing China National Radio, said China's overseas investment in 2016 has reached $221 billion (Rs 14.7 lakh crore), surging 246 per cent compared with 2015.

"So the Chinese navy has to gain enough ability to protect those key trade routes around the globe," Chu said.

Song Zhongping, a military expert who used to serve in the Second Artillery Corps, now called the Rocket Force, said Chinese military has not reached high standards set by President Xi Jinping.

Xi has set higher standards for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and "honestly, the Chinese military hasn't met some of those standards yet, and that's why we have military reform and the budget for national defence will continue to rise," he said.

"For example, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, as part of the One Belt and One Road initiative, requires a large and advanced navy, because this 'Road' covers the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean," Song said.

Yin Zhuo, a rear admiral and a senior researcher at the PLA Navy Equipment Research Centre, told China Central Television that in order to protect China's sovereignty and national interests, the PLA navy at least needs five to six aircraft-carriers to maintain presence in specific regions.'

Currently China has one aircraft carrier and building another one with plans for the third.

In addition, an anonymous PLA air force officer said, "due to the US' 'Pivot to Asia' strategy since the Obama era, the possibility of military conflict is increasing in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan Straits, and East and South China seas, so there is no reason for us not to increase the defence budget."