The Hindu : China hikes defence budget by 12 per cent

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 07, 2004

International

International

China hikes defence budget by 12 per cent

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, MARCH 6. China's defence expenditure will go up by 11.6 per cent in 2004 as against the budget of the previous year. The ongoing second annual session of China's National People's Congress (NPC or Parliament) was informed of this today.

The additional spending would help "improve the defensive combat readiness of the (Chinese) armed forces'', according to an official version on the new defence budget.

The toning up of "combat readiness'' would be done "under high-tech conditions''.

This is in line with the frequent affirmations by the Chinese leaders about their intention to `modernise' the Chinese military to meet the new challenges in the 21st century.

Another reason cited for the higher defence outlay was the need to "raise the salaries of army personnel and the pensions for ex-servicemen''. On Beijing's relations with major countries, the Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, denounced the `unilateralism' that was now in evidence on the world stage.

In a transparent reference to the U.S. in this regard, he said "the reason (why) the United Nations was founded and the U.N. Charter was written is that the future matters in the world cannot be dictated by one single country or a group of countries''. He said China "is committed to multilateralism''. Addressing a press conference on the margins of the ongoing NPC session in Beijing, Mr. Li said China's role in the six-party process on the North Korean nuclear arms issue was to "promote peace talks and to make peace''.

Hoping for "a constructive role'' by all the participants in this process, he said: "We don not wish to see a Korean peninsula with nuclear weapons; we wish to see a Korean peninsula that is peaceful, stable and prosperous''.

On Sino-Russian relations, he said the Presidents of the two countries would hold a summit in Beijing later this year.

Referring to China's present "strategic partnership of cooperation'' with Russia, Mr. Li noted that the two were the largest neighbours in the world, with a 4,300-km. long common border.

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