China announced its biggest rise in military spending in three years on Wednesday, a strong signal from President Xi Jinping that Beijing is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness in Asia, especially in disputed waters.
The government said it would increase the defence budget by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), partly to develop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defences.
The increase follows a nearly unbroken run of double-digit hikes in the Chinese defence budget, second only to the United States in size, for the past two decades.
"This is worrying news for China's neighbours, particularly for Japan," said Rory Medcalf, a regional security analyst at the independent Lowy Institute in Sydney.
Those who thought Xi might prefer to concentrate on domestic development over military expansion in a slowing economy had "underestimated the Chinese determination to shape its strategic environment", he added.
"We will comprehensively enhance the revolutionary nature of the Chinese armed forces, further modernise them and upgrade their performance, and continue to raise their deterrence and combat capabilities in the information age," Li told the largely rubber-stamp National People's Congress.
At a time when Washington has stepped up its military presence in the region as part of a strategic "pivot" toward Asia, China is building new submarines, surface ships and anti-ship ballistic missiles, and has tested emerging technology aimed at destroying missiles in mid-air.
Toshi Nakayama, a security expert at the Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan, said Tokyo saw a stronger Chinese military as a worry "but a more capable submarine force would be a particular threat".
Source: Reuters
