The International Herald Leader, which is under Xinhua News, recently published an article by Li Li, a special military commentator with Chinese Central Television (CCTV). Li suggested that, in the past year, military investment around the globe has increased rapidly, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. Examples are India and Russia – both had military spending plans for the next decade that were on the level of US$100 billion. Another important characteristic of the trend is that significant high-tech weapon development projects started in the last year, such as the U.S. supersonic missile project. Li believed that, last year, Southeastern Asia countries reached a very high military spending level in their respective arms procurement history. The article also expressed the concern that this new development is casting a negative shadow over the region. The article ended by asking the Chinese general public to be more “sensitive” on defense issues.
Source: International Herald Leader, January 9, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2012-01/09/c_131344083.htm