US questions China intentions, amid budget hike

The US Pacific commander voiced concern today over China's intentions as the Asian power announced its latest double-digit hike in defense spending.
Several lawmakers questioned Adm Samuel Locklear about US ability to contend with a rising China and sustain a "pivot" to Asia amid growing pressure on the US defense budget.
China announced today a 12.2 per cent increase in military spending to USD 132 billion, likely a considerable underestimate of actual spending, but still far less than the USD 600.4 billion the US spent last year.
Locklear noted China's spending increase, and added that the 12.2 per cent rise is "just what we can see."

He told the House Armed Services Committee that there has been a slow and steady growth in the US-China military relationship, and that the US wants China to provide a positive contribution to regional security. But he said China's recent activities were calling into question how it will proceed.
"What's frustrating is what's happening in their own backyard as it relates to their relations with some of our allies," Locklear said, citing China's "ambiguous" territorial claims in the South China Sea and its declaration of an air defense information zone over the East China Sea, in an encompassing airspace above Japanese-controlled islands also claimed by China. "This all complicates the security environment and makes us wonder," Locklear said.

"Whether the (Chinese) military will rise, I think that's a given. It will. The question is: is it transparent, what is it used for, is it cooperating in the larger security environment with neighbors?" he said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also told reporters that the US was urging greater transparency from China, and encouraging it to use its military capabilities for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.
House and Senate committees today were quizzing US military commanders about budget requests for 2015, against the backdrop of tensions between China and its neighbors in East and Southeast Asia, and the Russia's intervention in the central Asian nation of the Ukraine.