Assertive China spawns arms race in Asia
Mar. 7 (TIME): In China, where the rubber-stamp National People’s Congress (NPC) has gathered for its annual confab in Beijing, the military was gifted a 12.7% increase in spending, bringing its yearly coffers to $91.5 billion. With Beijing’s recent military maneuvers already worrying regional neighbors embroiled in territorial disputes with China, the budget hike no doubt will give new ammunition to Asian nations angling to up their own defense spending.
In fact, at $95 billion, China’s security spending now outpaces its official military expenditure. (However, many analysts believe that China’s on-paper military spending vastly underestimates true outlays.)
The internal-security budget hike underlines one major point: China’s top leaders are intent on expanding the country’s security apparatus as part of its oft-stated drive to promote stability.
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