Buildup on basis of peace

Despite a 7.5 percent increase over last year, China's proposed military budget for 2010 (518.577 billion yuan) is only 1.4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), much lower than in some developed countries. This suggests that China's military forces can only be defensive in nature and could never pose a threat to any country.

As National People's Congress spokesperson Li Zhaoxing said yesterday, the country's defense spending is not high given its large population, vast territory and long coastlines. To defend this country from any conventional and unconventional threat, such as attacks from terrorists and extremists, China has enough reason to build a comparatively strong military force. And its economic development and social progress would be impossible without a peaceful environment guaranteed by a relatively strong military.

Still, the Chinese government, while cutting its increase of defense budget, has done a great deal to increase the transparency of its military spending by putting it into the government budget, which must be examined and adopted by the National People's Congress. China has also published a defense white paper every year since 1998 to detail its military budget and actual uses. As a member of the United Nations' Military Budget Transparency Mechanism, China has handed in a military budget report every year since 2007.