中國國防支出增加10.1％

A few weeks ago the NHK News on-line reported the following:

中国国防費 １０．１％の増加

3月5日 9時18分

中国政府はことしの予算案を５日明らかにし、国防費は８８６９億人民元（日本円でおよそ１７兆円）で、去年の執行額と比べて１０．１％増え、二桁の高い伸び率となりました。

中国政府は、５日開会の全人代＝全国人民代表大会で審議されることしの予算案を明らかにしました。
このうち、ことしの国防費の予算は、中央政府分だけで８８６８億９８００万人民元（日本円でおよそ１７兆円）で、去年に比べて１０．１％増え、二桁の高い伸び率となりました。
中国の国防費は１９８９年以降、２０１０年を除いて毎年二桁の伸びを記録しています。
中国の国防費はアメリカに次いで世界第２位の規模で、ことしの予算案は２０１４年度の日本の防衛関連予算、およそ４兆９０００億円の３．５倍に当たります。
国防費の大幅な増加について４日、全人代の傅瑩報道官は、「装備の研究開発は大部分は自国で行い、場合によっては一から行わなければならない。中国の国防政策は防御的なものだ」と説明しています。
ただ中国政府は国防費の内訳を公表していないほか、実際には軍が行う研究開発や宇宙開発にかかる費用などが、公表される国防費とは別枠になっているとみられるなど、透明性は不十分だという国際社会の懸念の声も上がっています。

(試譯文)

On the 5th (March) the Chinese government disclosed this year's budget: its defense expense was 886,900 million rmb (in Japanese yen approximately 17,000,000 million yen), being an increase of 10.1 % compared with the amount spent last year and was a two-digit high growth rate.

The Chinese government disclosed the budget to be deliberated by the NPC: the National People's Congress opened on the 5^th (March).

Inside it, on the defense budget of this year, merely for the central government it was 886,898 million rmb (in Japanese yen approximately 17,000,000 million yen), being an increase of 10.1 % compared with last year, and was a two-digit high growth rate.

The defense budget of China was recording a growth rate at two digits every year since 1989 except for the year 2010.

The size of defense budget for China was in the 2nd place in the world following the United States. This year's budget was 3.5 times more than Japan’s defense related budget of approximately 4,900,000 million yen for the fiscal year 2014.

On the 4th, about the substantial increase in the defense budget, Fu Ying the press attache of the National People's Congress explained that "most of the equipment study and development are done by our own country, in some cases it must be done from scratch. The Chinese national defense policy is for defending".

However, apart from the fact that a detailed break down of the defense budget was not announced officially, the actual army research and development together with its space development etc. were seen to have been separated from the announced defense budget etc. The international community had voiced their anxiety over the insufficient transparency.

Obviously China needs to spend a lot of money to handle issues related the sovereignty right disputes over the islands in the South China Sea with the ASEAN countries etc.