China First Reveals Defense Expenditure Figures Of Past 30 Years / White Paper: China's Defense Expenditure Kept At A "Reasonable And Appropriate...."

China First Reveals Defense Expenditure Figures Of Past 30 Years / White Paper: China's Defense Expenditure Kept At A "Reasonable And Appropriate Level" / Full Text: China's National Defense In 2008 (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING - January 21, 2009: China revealed its defense expenditure figures over the past 30 years for the first time in a white paper here Tuesday, considered an effort to win further international trust through increased transparency. "Comparing the figures in the past three decades, people will have a clear picture that the country maintained a balance between military expenditure and national economic strength," said Wen Bing, a researcher of Beijing-based Academy of Military Sciences (AMS). Since 1986, the percentage ratio between China's defense expenditure and gross domestic product (GDP) had never exceeded 2 percent, according to the figures released by the white paper on China's National Defense in 2008, issued by the Information Office of the State Council. This ratio had dropped in 19 years out of the past three decades. In 2007, the same ratio of the United States was 4.5 percent. It was 2.7 in Britain and 2.57 in Russia. In addition, the percentage ratio between the defense expenditure and the central government expenditure had remained below 10 percent since 1985, except 1992. This ratio also decreased in 19 years out of the past three decades. "Although the exact number of expense expenditure rose in the past 30 years, it has taken up an appropriate part of the whole expenditure," Wen said. The military expense rose from 16.78 billion yuan (2.43 billion U.S. dollar at the current exchange rate) in 1978 to 355.49 billion yuan (51.52 billion dollars) in 2007. "I believe through these figures the world will have a better understanding on China's defense policy," Wen said. In the white paper, the country clearly stated that it will stick to a defensive national defense policy. There are several other figures that were released by the white paper for the first time. One of them was that the militia members total shrank to 8 million now from 10 million in 2006. The white paper also first introduced the framework of China's border police force. It was made up of 30 provincial police units,110 city-level units, 310 county-level units, 20 marine units, 207land border checkpoints and 1,691 township-level stations. "The white paper introduced to the rest of the world China's perspective of national defense development. This has showed its sincerity to improve mutual trust and reduce concerns of the international society," said Chen Zhou, another AMS researcher.

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Full Text: China's National Defense In 2008

(NSI News Source Info) BEIJING - January 21, 2009: The Information Office of China's State Council on Tuesday issued a white paper titled "China's National Defense in 2008". Following is the full text of the document:

In a TV live broadcast, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Sr. Col. Hu Changming introduces a white paper on China's National Defense in 2008 at a press conference in Beijing, Jan. 20, 2009. The white paper was issued by the Information Office of the State Council Tuesday. China's National Defense in 2008 Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China January 2009, Beijing Contents Preface I. The Security Situation II. National Defense Policy III. Reform and Development of the PLA IV. The Army V. The Navy VI. The Air Force VII. The Second Artillery Force VIII. The People's Armed Police Force IX. National Defense Reserve Buildup X. The Armed Forces and the People XI. Science, Technology and Industry for National De-fense XII. Defense Expenditure XIII. International Security Cooperation XIV. Arms Control and Disarmament Appendix I Major International Exchanges of the Chinese Military (2007-2008) Appendix II Joint Exercises and Training with Foreign Armed Forces (2007-2008) Appendix III China's Participation in UN Peacekeeping Operations Appendix IV Imports and Exports of Seven Major Types of Conventional Arms of the PRC (2007) Appendix V Defense Expenditure of the PRC (1978-2007) Appendix VI Major Military Regulations Issued in 2007 and 2008 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10][11] [12] [13] [14] [15] (Click the numbers accordingly)