Military spending a necessity

The Western media have already played up China's defense budget growth even before the convening of the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Jane's Defence Weekly has reportedly claimed that China will spend $120 billion on defense this year and predicts it will soar to $238 billion in 2015, indicating a combined annual increase of 18.75 percent. The report, which says "China's defense spending to double" has drawn worldwide attention amid the changing global balance of power. However, the reports have not mentioned the sources of the data, which downgrades their credibility.

China put its 2011 defense budget at about 601 billion yuan ($95 billion). Were the latest reports right about military spending this year, then the defense budget for 2012 would have increased by more than 26 percent. However, according to China Statistical Yearbook, military spending growth has slowed down in recent years and the growth rate dropped to 7.5 percent in 2010, the smallest rise over the past two decades. The nation may register double-digit annual growth, but the increase is unlikely to exceed the reported combined annual growth of 18.5 percent in the years ahead.