India's defence budget is one third of China: Pentagon Report

According to a Pentagon report "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2013" India's annual defence budget is just one-third of that of China.

The report mentions that India’s defence expenditure is very less compared to China despite the tensions that remain along their shared border between two nuclear-weapon countries.

Pentagon has submitted its annual report to the US Congress mentioning the official annual defence budget of [highlight]China in the year 2013 was USD 119.5 billion against India's USD 39.2 billion.

Pentagon in its report mentioned following issue’s of India with China-

• Despite improving political and economic relations between China and India, tensions remain along their shared 4,057 km border, most notably over Arunachal Pradesh, which China asserts is part of Tibet, and over the Aksai Chin region at the western end of the Tibetan Plateau.
• In 2009, China and India said they would establish a hotline between their Prime Ministers after exchanging barbs over the status of the border region of Arunachal Pradesh. But by 2011, progress still lagged as India reportedly found trouble obtaining suitable encryption technology to establish the hotline.
• Chinese and Indian officials met in late September 2013 to finalize the text of the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement, which will supplement existing procedures managing the interaction of troops along the Line of Actual Control.

Highlights of the Report

• China continues to modernize and improve its military capabilities and is also preparing for contingencies in the South and East China Seas where Beijing has been involved in increasingly tense territorial disputes with its neighbours.
• China’s military expenditures continuing to grow in keeping with its goal of being a regional and world power.
• The main mission for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is to improve the capacity of its armed forces to fight and win short-duration, high-intensity regional contingencies.
• China continues to prepare for potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait which includes deterring or defeating the United States.
• The PLA Navy conducted its largest-ever fleet exercise in the Philippine Sea.
• China also conducted a series of joint military exercises in September and October. These exercises combined PLA ground, navy and air forces in large-scale maneuvers along China’s southern and southeastern coasts.
• As China’s interests, capabilities, and international influence have grown, its military modernization program has also become increasingly focused on military investments for a range of missions beyond China’s coast, including sea lane security, counter piracy, peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief. The United States has worked with China on some of these missions.
• Chinese leaders see this era as a “period of strategic opportunity” to advance national development.
• China is using the strategic space to prioritize economic growth and development and to achieve “national rejuvenation” by 2049.
• At the same time, Chinese leaders express a desire to maintain peace and stability along their country’s periphery expand their diplomatic influence to facilitate access to markets, capital, and resources, and avoid direct confrontation with the United States and other countries.
• Following this strategy, China’s presence is growing in all regions of the world. This has led to friction between some of its regional neighbours, including allies and partners of the United States.
• The U.S.-China relationship is expanding and improving. In the military area there are questions about the rate of growth. The Chinese have not been transparent about their spending, with U.S. Experts believing the country spends roughly $145 billion on defense, far beyond the $119 billion that China has officially announced.
• China has sustained its investments in strategic forces modernization, as well as key anti-access/area-denial capabilities such as advanced intermediate- and medium-range conventional ballistic missiles, long-range land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles, counter-space weapons, and offensive cyber capabilities, according to the report.
• The report also compared the defence budgets of following countries

1. Russia’s national defence budget in 2013 was $69.5 billion
2.  Japan’s national defence budget in 2013 was $56.9 billion.
3. South national defence budget in 2013 was $31 billion.

China's recent defence development

1. 18 Yaogan remote sensing satellite launched since 2006- conduct scientific experiments, carry out surveys on land resources, estimate crop yield, and support natural disaster reduction and prevention.
2. Gaofen-1 satellite - main civilian Earth observation project, combining the use of satellites, aircraft, and
   even stratosphere balloons, with at least 14 satellites set to launch by 2020.
3. Kuaizhou (“quick vessel”) imagery satellite -  for emergency data monitoring and imaging under the control of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Remote Sensing Center.
4. Two Tianhui satellites designed to conduct scientific experiments and support land resource surveys and territory mapping with a stereoscopic imaging payload.
5. The Haiyang ocean monitoring constellation and Fengyun weather satellites in low Earth and geosynchronous orbits.
6. The Ziyuan series of satellites are used for earth resources, cartography, surveying, and
   monitoring.

CHINA’S USE OF LOW-OBSERVABLE TECHNOLOGY (i.e. stealth technology): [ For stealth technology refer to the article on it in Science and Technology section]

New weapons and equipment, developed by China, that use low-observable technology-

1. Type 056 class of corvettes ( small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship) - incorporates stealth features making it more difficult to detect using radar.
2. Lijian - A stealth Drone
3. Camouflage netting - that has multiple layers of special paints, digital camouflage, and the ability to counter detection from infrared, thermal imaging and radar reconnaissance sensors.

China's first aircraft cariier - LIAONING

For detailed report refer following PDF link- http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2014_DoD_China_Report.pdf