China Ups Military Budget to $141B

The Manila Times

05 March 2015

BEIJING: China unveiled a fresh double-digit spending boost for its military on Thursday with a 10.1 percent increase in 2015, as it is embroiled in a series of territorial disputes with its neighbors.

Beijing plans to raise its military spending to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.4 billion), according to a budget report to the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the communist-controlled legislature.

The figure is a five year low, but China has for years been raising spending on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in double-digit steps, flexing its military and economic might as it asserts its claims in a series of rows with Japan and others.

…“This may be the lowest increase for five years, but it is pretty much in line with the kind of increases they have had in the last 20,” said Richard Bitzinger, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

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