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China's defence budget touches $35 bn
Friday, 29 December 2006, 18:30 IST
Beijing: China's defense budget for 2006 was 283.829 billion yuan (around $35 billion), a White Paper said, adding that it was in keeping with the pace of the global revolution in military affairs and China's economic development.
According to the White Paper, China's defense expenditure in 2005 was 6.19 percent of that of the US, 52.95 percent of that of Britain, 71.45 percent of that of France and 67.52 percent of that of Japan.
From 1990 to 2005, the average annual increase in China's defense expenditure was 15.36 percent. The average annual increase of defense expenditure was 1.23 percent from 1979 to 1989, the White Paper said.
China's defense expenditure in 2004 and 2005 was 220.001 billion yuan (around $27.5 billion) and 247.496 billion yuan (around $30 billion), respectively, with growth rates of 15.31 percent and 12.50 percent.
The share of China's annual defense expenditure as part of its GDP in the same period decreased, being 1.40 percent and 7.74 percent respectively in 2003, 1.38 percent and 7.72 percent in 2004, and 1.35 percent and 7.29 percent in 2005, the White Paper said.
The paper said that Beijing has gradually increased its defense expenditure since the early 1990s in keeping with the pace of the global revolution in military affairs and China's economic development.
The defense expenditure actually registered an average annual decrease of 5.83 percent, given the 7.49 percent average annual increase of the consumer price index in the same period, the paper noted.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS