The announcement by the Chinese government that it will increase defence spending next year by 18 per cent to $44.9 billion has, understandably, provoked international jitters, not least in Taiwan and its protector the US. Coming only weeks after the Chinese launched their first anti-satellite missile, the decision confirms Beijing's commitment to modernisation and better pay for the 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army, with massive extra spending on missile systems and electronic technology.
It underlines China's more robust recent regional diplomacy, a product in no small measure of the confidence that comes from its four years of double-digit economic growth.
A Chinese spokesman insisted that by comparison with other countries China's defence spending is moderate, merely one tenth that of the US. As a share of GNP in 2005 it stood at 7 per cent compared to 20 per cent in the US, 11 per cent in France, and 9 per cent in Germany. Which would be a strong case, perhaps, if anyone really believed the Chinese figures - massive spending is hidden in other budgets.
The weekend announcement came on the eve of the opening yesterday of the country's parliament, the 2,900-strong National People's Congress, whose 12-day session includes debates on a number of important reform measures, including the welcome abolition of the system of criminal re-education through labour, or laojiao.
It allowed police officers to send petty criminals and political dissidents to labour camps without trial for up to four years. Other agenda items include measures to protect private property, end preferential treatment of foreign companies and trim the deficit. Debates are also expected on corruption, pollution and rural poverty.
Yesterday premier Wen Jiabao promised China would do more to save energy and cut pollution while striving to keep its economy humming. In his annual report to parliament, Wen also promised to boost spending on the 800 million-strong rural community where there have been widespread protests over poverty and the corruption of party officials.
One of the key measures likely to be passed, the property law, is a remarkable measure of how far China has moved down the capitalist road. It significantly extends the protection of private property and is strongly supported by the emerging middle class but is opposed by left-wing politicians and academics who see it as providing legal sanction for corrupt expropriations of land, often by party officials who have become very rich in the process.
Yet in truth, according to a report by Credit Suisse First Boston, some one third of all party members now own private equity, and private business now accounts for more than 65 per cent of GNP. The Great Helmsman, Mao Zedong, may be turning in his grave, but no system which depends to that extent on the private sector can survive unless it copperfastens in law both the title to and the means to transfer or pass on property.