中国学者呼吁提高军费比例 Call for China defence budget rise will irk US

A prominent Chinese military economist has called for a steep rise in the country’s defence spending, an appeal likely to reinforce US concerns about the pace of China’s military expansion just ahead of a visit by Robert Gates, US defence secretary, to Beijing.

一位中国知名军事经济学家呼吁大幅提高中国国防费用，在美国国防部长罗伯特•盖茨(Robert Gates)访华前夕，此番言论可能会加剧美国对于中国军力扩张的担忧。

Major General Jiang Luming, head of the Institute for Defence Economics at China’s National Defence University, said in an article on Wednesday that China needed to increase its military spending from the current level of 1.4 per cent of its gross domestic product to up to 2.8 per cent, in order to close the gap with military technology in developed countries.

中国国防大学(National Defence University)国防经济研究中心主任姜鲁鸣少将在3日发表的一篇文章中称，中国军费占GDP的比重，应当从目前的1.4%提高到2.8%，以缩小与发达国家在军事技术上的差距。

His appeal – which appeared in Study Times, the newspaper of the Communist party’s Central Party School – is part of intense lobbying efforts in readiness for the final draft of Beijing’s next five-year plan, which will determine funding for many departments and industries through to 2015. The military is pushing for a sustained effort to build China’s indigenous military industrial complex. The call for a spending rise will further fuel concerns in the US, the only global military power, and several of China’s neighbours, over a more assertive military stance from Beijing.

这篇文章发表在中共中央党校的《学习时报》(Study Times)上，是中国政府十二五规划最终方案敲定前军方的积极游说努力之一。上述规划将决定到2015年的5年间，众多政府部门与行业的资金投入。军方一直在争取持续推进中国自主军工复合体的建设。提高军费比例的呼声，将进一步加剧全球唯一军事强国美国及一些邻国对中国政府日益强势的军事姿态的担忧。

Over the past month, revelations on three big Chinese arms projects – the long-awaited confirmation of China’s aircraft carrier programme, US claims China is deploying a missile to threaten American aircraft carriers, and pictures revealing tests of Beijing’s first stealth fighter aircraft – have done little to quell these fears.

过去一个月，中国三个重要武器项目先后被披露——中国航母计划经过长期等待终获证实；美国声称中国正部署一种会威胁美国航母的导弹；以及中国第一架隐形战斗机的试飞照片曝光。这些显然都无助于缓解上述忧虑。

China put the increase in its official defence expenditure at 7.5 per cent last year, the first increase below 10 per cent since 1989, in an attempt to counter a “China threat” perception and reassure the international community about the country’s rise. The official defence budget for 2010 was Rmb532bn ($80.8bn).

根据中国官方数据，去年国防费增加了7.5%，是1989年以来军费增幅首次低于10%，意在反驳“中国威胁”论、及打消国际社会对于中国崛起的担心。2010年官方国防预算为5320亿元人民币（合808亿美元）。

But independent observers believe Beijing’s total military spending is much higher. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China’s expenditure was second only to the US with $100bn, or 2 per cent of its GDP, in 2009. Sipri estimates that China increased its military expenditure by 217 per cent between 2000 and 2009, faster than any other large country.

但独立观察人士认为，中国政府的总军费支出远远高于这一数字。斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所(Sipri)表示，2009年中国军费开支达1000亿美元，仅次于美国，占GDP的2%。Sipri估计，2000年至2009年中国军费开支增加了27%，在大国中增幅居首。

Chinese government and military officials dismiss fears that the military’s capability is overblown.

中国政府及军方官员表示，对中国军力过度扩张的担忧是多余的。

“Due to a relative lack in funding, the pace of our military’s modernisation has suffered,” said Maj Gen Jiang. “Even though the standard of our weaponry has been raised more in recent years, the reality that our overall arms equipment standard still lags behind far behind the main developed nations has not changed.”

“由于投入相对不足，影响了我军现代化建设的速度，”姜鲁鸣少将写道。“以武器装备水平为例，尽管近几年我国武器装备水平有了较大幅度的提高，但武器装备总体水平落后于主要发达国家的现实并未根本改变。”

Sipri figures put China’s defence spending at 2 per cent of its GDP, while the US spends 4.5 per cent of its GDP on its military.

Sipri的数据显示，中国军费开支占本国GDP的2%，而美国军费开支占GDP的4.5%。