Double-digit Military Growth

The Government of China announced that its military budget for 2013 amounted to $118 million. It had grown by 10.7% than the result of last year. While this marked the third consecutive year of double-digit growth in comparison to the result of the year before, the double double-digit expansion is the unshaken trend of China in these twenty-five years, when it is compared to the budget at the beginning of the year before. As its result, the military budget had swollen by four times bigger than that of four years ago. So, what are they buying?

“We accelerate the modernization of national defense and military capability. Strong national defense and great military protect our nation’s sovereignty, safety and territory,” told Wen Jiabao, retiring Chinese Prime Minister, in the opening remarks of the National People’s Congress. While Chinese gross domestic product is staying at the level of 7.8%, the military budget has been growing as the nation’s central gravity.

The growth of the budget is also attributed to the increasing demand of higher salary of personnel. The pay for the troops in the Chinese Liberation Army was extremely low about ten years ago. China’s economic growth made higher payment possible. For the officials of the government and the Communist Party, it is necessary to ease the complaint of the military section for maintaining their political power basis.

One clear thing is that the Chinese military is focusing on strengthening naval power. It embarked on building its original aircraft carriers. Most suppose that it was to improve the capability of Chinese navy in East and South China Sea. The Chinese government also provided a plenty of resources with developing fighter jets with stealth capabilities. The budget for military modernizing may not be counted on the total military budget officially released. It is possible that actual amount is bigger than the announcement.

Those preparations have been recognized as attempts to enhance its power of denial. The government of Japan is raising its warning toward aggression of China, namely for the struggle over the territory around Senkaku Islands. “It is important to disclose the substance of military budget to neighbor countries and the world with transparency,” told the Minister of Defense, Itsunori Onodera.

China’s expansionism in military capability without transparency can lead to unlimited arms race in Northeast Asia. The government of Japan increased the FY 2013 budget for the Self-Defense Force for the first time in these eleven years. China seems to be ignoring this negative aspect. Looking like preparing an actual war, the leaders of China should remind of Sun-Tzu’s the Art of War, which taught that the best strategy is winning without a fight.