The BBC reports:
China says it plans to increase military spending by nearly 18% this year to 417.8bn yuan ($59bn; £30bn)....
But experts believe the actual amount allocated to the Chinese military is two to three times larger than the published figure.
There was a huge fuss last year over an increase of 17.8 percent, for a total of $44.94 billion. And you'll note that last year's increase was, at the time, the largest on record.
Of course, I don't put any stock at all in these numbers. The actual number is certainly far higher, once unofficial programs (like a nuclear powered aircraft carrier, anti-sattelite weapons, and lord knows what else) are taken into account. Figure in the lies they're telling themselves about how much corruption and inefficiency is built into their own military-industrial complex, take account of purchasing power parity--you could be talking about a figure not unlike what the United States is spending every year, except without all the health care expenses, the two wars, the blue water Navy, the global commitments, etc. etc. Oh, and they also don't include procurement in the official budget. How much might production of six submarines a year cost (the U.S. builds one a year) or the new, indigenous J-10 multirole fighter? Nobody really knows.
So what are we doing different this year? Here's the story from March 4, 2007:
The United States is calling on China to be more transparent on its military buildup. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte made the call in Beijing Sunday after Chinese officials announced they plan to boost their military spending by nearly 18 percent to $45 billion this year..
And here's the story from March 3, 2008:
An annual Pentagon report on China on Monday said Beijing's lack of transparency posed risks to stability, voicing concern over how it would use expanding military power.
Seriously. The same exact story one year on. And could the Chinese be anymore transparent? They're building a war machine, they're going to seize Taiwan at the first hint of domestic instability or Taiwanese independence, and they're going to give the U.S. Navy and Air Force a hell of a bloody nose in the process.
Update: I forgot the cherry on top:
China Southern Airlines (CSA) announced on Monday that it will launch non-stop direct flights from Beijing to Tehran and double the frequency to four flights per week, starting on March 31.
If only we could discern their intentions...
