A series of territorial disputes with its neighbours will ensure China boosts defence spending when it reveals this year’s military budget ahead of the annual parliamentary sitting next week, security experts say.
After almost three decades of sharply increased military outlays, an increasingly assertive China now has the firepower to challenge rivals claiming strategically important and resource-rich territory in the East China and South China seas.
The Chinese navy, now second in size only to the U.S. fleet in terms of raw numbers, has become a genuine blue-water force and is conducting almost continuous patrols and exercises in these contested waters.
Over the past six months, China’s stand-off with Japan over a series of rocky islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China has become more acrimonious.
Beijing is also in dispute with the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia, over territory in the South China Sea.
Read the full story at China Defense MashUp