China's military spending is set to double from $119.8bn to $238.2bn a year by 2015, according to new research.
The increases would make China's defence spending greater than the combined defence budgets of the 12 next-highest defence spending nations in Asia, which currently spend a total of $232.5bn annually.
If correct, the estimates would make China's spend four times larger than second-placed regional power Japan.
The forecast by research group IHS amounts to an annual growth rate of 18.75 per cent in China's defence spend, which was officially declared as $91.5bn in 2011. The amount of defence spending declared by the country is generally considered to be understated.
China has developed significant new military capabilities in recent years including its first aircraft carriers and a new stealth fighter jet programme, and these have led the US to place a greater emphasis on its operations and military partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region. The focus became official US policy in a strategy document launched in early January.
The release of the IHS estimates coincides with a four-day official visit to the US by China's Vice President Xi Jinping, who is set to be appointed as chief of China's Central Military Commission by the end of the year.
Xi has been publicly critical of the US' strategic focus on the rise of China.
"At a time when people long for peace, stability and development, to deliberately give prominence to the military security agenda, scale up military deployment and strengthen military alliances is not really what most countries in the region hope to see," he told The Washington Post.
"The vast Pacific Ocean has ample space for China and the United States. We also hope that the United States will fully respect and accommodate the major interests and legitimate concerns of Asia-Pacific countries."
Source: http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=18873
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