China allocates a whopping 11 percent for defense budget

On Sunday, China has declared that it would spend more than 11 percent on defense in the year 2012. The hike in defense budget would shoot up China’s military spending to around $106 billion in 2012. This is approximately 68 billion dollars more as compared to last year’s budget.

China’s double-digit spending program has raised concerns in the United States as it fails to clarify China’s real intention behind such a large-scale investment on defense other than strengthening its (sovereign) security. There is also no mention regarding the type of weapons China is going to build. It is believed that the real figure could be much higher keeping in mind China’s policy to keep its decision-making under wrap.

Since the last decade, China has been gradually increasing its defense spending. It is believed that China’s defense policy is aimed at counteracting growing American presence in the region. China is a growing economic power in Asia along with India.

Currently, the United States is pushing for more clarity in China’s military policy. Last year, the two countries were engaged in strategic security dialogue, attended by several military officials and senior citizens from both Washington and Beijing. Though it failed to produce any result, analysts are of the opinion that more dialogues are needed in the future to ease the tension between the two countries.