China to give U.N. military spending data

BEIJING – China said Sunday it will provide the United Nations with information on its military spending and arms deals for the first time in more than a decade, taking a step to address international concerns about the secrecy surrounding its defense spending and operations.

China will give U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “basic data of its military expenditures for the latest fiscal year,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site.

China says spending for its People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest standing army with 2.3 million members, grew 17.8 percent this year to about nearly $45 billion. It was the largest annual increase in more than a decade.

The Pentagon estimates China’s actual defense spending may be much higher because the official budget does not include money for high-priced weapons systems and some other items.

Although China does not currently provide information about its arms deals, several overseas organizations monitor the transactions.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks the volume of arms transfers but not their financial value, said the three largest importers of Chinese arms in 2006 were Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iran, which accounted for nearly 75 percent of China’s arms exports.