Chinese military experts stressed that China's defence expenditures have been kept at a fairly low level and the increases have been basically of a compensatory nature.

Chen Zhou, a researcher with the Academy of Military Science of the People's Liberation Army (AMSPLA), said that the just-issued white paper on "China's National Defence in 2002," is practical and realistic.

Chen said in an interview with Beijing-based media that China's defence expenditures have increased somewhat based on the country's continuous economic growth, but defence spending relative to State financial spending has been on the decline, from 17.37 percent in 1979 to 7.65 percent in 2001, a drop of nearly 10 percentage points.

The white paper released on Monday indicates that increased defence spending in recent years has primarily been to meet increased personnel expenses, to establish and improve the social security system for servicemen, and increase the standard of living. Money has also gone to progressive office automation and co-operation with the international community on anti-terrorism activities.

Another portion of the spending increase was used to improve military equipment, and to enhance defence capabilities using high technologies.

"Our new military strategy is to win battles or wars with high technology," said Chen. "High technology takes more money."

Meanwhile, Chen said that compared with other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and France, China's defence expenditures are still at a fairly low level.

"Our defence expenditure is less than 6 percent of that of the US and about half that of Japan," Chen said.

(China Daily December 13, 2002)