Chinese Military Spending Rises Sharply

By DAVID LAGUE

BEIJING — China announced a further sharp increase in military spending on Tuesday, a day after the United States renewed its warning that a lack of openness surrounding the rapid buildup of the Chinese armed forces posed a threat to stability in Asia.

China’s military budget for 2008 will increase by 17.6 percent to 417.77 billion yuan, or about $58.8 billion, Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, told a news conference.

This follows a 17.8 percent increase in 2007.

Before the annual legislative session, which begins Wednesday, Mr. Jiang also said the situation in the Taiwan Strait was “grim and complex” and called on the Taiwanese president, Chen Shui-bian, to halt what Beijing described as unacceptable moves toward independence. China considers the island of Taiwan a breakaway province.

China has increased annual defense outlays by double-digit percentages most years in the past two decades to pay for an array of modern weapons and better training and conditions for its 2.3 million-person military, the world’s biggest standing force.

Foreign security experts in the United States and elsewhere say Beijing’s real military spending is two or three times the announced figure. They say these sustained increases have put China on track to become a major military power and the country most capable of challenging American dominance in East Asia.

They also say that China’s main objective is to develop the firepower to overwhelm Taiwan in the event of conflict while deterring or delaying any American forces sent to help defend the island.

Senior Chinese officials dismiss these assessments.

Mr. Jiang said the increase in spending this year was purely defensive and would allow for upgraded equipment along with better pay and benefits for service personnel.

As a proportion of government outlays, the amount is less than what the United States, Russia, India and France spend on their militaries, he said.

“China’s limited armed forces are totally for the purpose of safeguarding independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mr. Jiang said. “China will not pose a threat to any country.”

In its annual report to Congress on the Chinese military, released on Monday, the Pentagon said the outside world had limited knowledge of the motivation behind China’s accelerating buildup and the capabilities it was developing.

Beijing had yet to give detailed reasons for its modernization or publish complete figures on military spending, the report said.

“The lack of transparency in China’s military and security affairs poses risks to stability by increasing the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation,” it said.

In Beijing, the Chinese government criticized the Pentagon report, saying it distorted the facts.