Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara has said that “a close look” was required to evaluate China's assertions that its military modernisation was of “defensive” and not offensive character. Voicing concern over the size of China's latest defence budget, Mr. Maehara said: “In the light of the scale of Gross Domestic Product of China, which has become the second largest economy in the world by overtaking Japan, even two per cent of such GDP represents a considerable amount.” Responding to questions on Beijing's official version, Mr. Maehara said in Tokyo that “it would be necessary for China to enhance transparency” about matters relating to the rising profile of the People's Liberation Army. “It would be necessary to request China to explain what for … very high defence expenditure [was being allocated].”
It was “understood that China has been constructing an aircraft carrier, although the timing of its deployment is not known.” Noting that China was also “developing stealth fighters,” he said all these programmes made him “wonder what the assumption behind such [military] modernisation was about.”
The growth trajectory of China's military modernisation, as evident from the country's latest defence budget, has attracted much attention across the Asia Pacific region. This followed the expression of concern, in some regional circles, over some of China's recent “military manoeuvres.” The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry had lodged “protest” over China's recent military exercises near the Spratly archipelago, the site of sovereignty claims and counter-claims by several countries in the region.
