Japan voices grave concern about China's 2011 defense budget plan

TOKYO, March 4 Kyodo - Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Friday that Japan is greatly concerned about China's plan to sharply boost its military spending in 2011.
''China is reported to be studying the construction of an aircraft carrier and developing a (radar-evading) stealth fighter,'' Maehara told reporters. ''We are gravely concerned over what China has in mind for modernizing its armaments.''
The minister was commenting on China's announcement earlier in the day that it plans to increase its military spending by 12.7 percent in 2011 to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.5 billion).
Brushing aside China's claim that the planned defense appropriation is held to less than 2 percent of its gross domestic product, Maehara said the ratio is ''considerably large'' now that China has become the world's second-largest economy in terms of GDP.
While China asserts that its military policy is defensive, Maehara said, ''It is debatable whether it is possible to draw a line between offensive and defensive weapons.''
Separately, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano called on China to be more transparent over its military buildup.
''There are some opaque parts in China's defense spending, not only in terms of the amount of money but the breakdown (of expenses),'' the top government spokesman said at a news conference following Beijing's release of the defense budget plan.
Edano said Japan will try to encourage China to be more transparent in its defense and military policies through a range of exchanges between the two countries.
Until 2009, China's defense budget had posted double-digit percentage growth for 21 straight years.