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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

China's military budget to hit $238 b by 2015


Asia launched its biggest exhibition of aircraft and military hardware on Tuesday as a new report said China s defence expenditures would exceed the combined spending of all other major countries in the region within three years. Aircraft and weapons manufacturers, military officers, arms dealers and airline executives rubbed shoulders as the 2012 Singapore Airshow kicked off in a vast hangar near the city-state s Changi airport. Deals worth about $10 billion were announced at the last show in 2010 and the number could well be higher this year as Asian nations ramp up defence spending. IHS Jane s said in a report that while all major Asian nations are forecast to increase spending on defence, China s military budget will soar to $238.20 billion by 2015 from $119.80 billion last year, growing about 18.75 percent per annum. That number will exceed spending by all other nations in the region combined, but compares with a base U.S. defence budget of $525.40 billion for 2013. In Asia, Japan and India follow China in defence spending, but both may be constrained in coming years while China is likely to steam ahead, underpinned by strong economic growth, analysts said. "Japan s government debt and the investment needed after Fukushima will impact defence spend. We will increasingly see budget channeled towards key programmes and equipment," said Rajiv Biswas, chief economist in the Asia-Pacific for IHS Global Insight. "India s government debt and fiscal deficit is very high as a share of GDP, and the rupee depreciated significantly in 2011, all of which will limit India s defence ambitions." Nevertheless, Japan s defence budget is forecast to rise to $66.60 billion by 2015 from $60.30 billion last year. India s military expenditure is likely to be $44.90 billion in 2015 from $35.40 billion in 2011. "China s rise is not the only motivator," said Paul Burton at IHS Jane s. "There are a number of lingering security issues, driven by competition for untapped natural resources, that are prompting many states to increase their defence to GDP ratio." On the civilian side, the show is likely to be dominated by Europe s carbon emissions scheme and by defects plaguing the Airbus A-380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The EU s Emissions Trading Scheme, introduced on Jan. 1, has drawn howls of protest from airlines around the world, with China banning its carriers from taking part. Europe s plan to charge airlines for carbon emissions could trigger a full-blown trade war with implications for plane deals and Europe s crippling sovereign debt crisis. Meanwhile, the discovery of hairline cracks on part of the frame inside A380 wings several weeks ago has embarrassed its maker, Airbus Industrie, a unit of EADS. European safety authorities last week extended inspections for similar cracks to the entire fleet. Airbus and operators say there is no risk to safety, but German magazine Der Spiegel said the problem could cost Airbus 100 million euros ($132 million). Boeing has said it has found a problem with the 787 s fuselage, but has said the "incorrect shimming" is easily fixed and will not affect production schedules. Shims are used to close tiny gaps in joints.

India searching for person behind Israel attack


Iran has denied responsibility for the attack, as well as a foiled bombing in Georgia, which appeared to mirror the recent killings of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran blamed on Israel. The blast in New Delhi set a car ablaze and wounded four people, including an Israeli Embassy driver and a diplomat’s wife, who was in critical, but stable, condition. Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the strike appeared to be a terror attack carried out by a ”very well-trained person.” Israel has blamed Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah for the attack and the failed strike in Georgia, which have ratcheted already heightened tensions between Tehran and the Jewish state. Iran is a strong Indian ally and a steady oil supplier to the energy-starved country. India declined to cast blame for the attack in the heart of its capital, just a few hundred yards (meters) from the prime minister’s residence. ”At the moment, I am not pointing a finger at any particular group or any particular organization. But whoever did it, we condemn it in the strongest terms,” Chidambaram said. Indian security experts say that scores of students from north India go every year to the Iranian holy city of Qom for religious studies and many maintain contacts there. Israel sent forensic scientists from its police force to New Delhi to search for clues as to who carried out the attacks, an Israeli government official said. The embassy declined to provide details of the investigation. ”There is day-to-day cooperation between Israeli authorities and Indian security authorities. Very close cooperation,” Israeli Embassy spokesman David Goldfarb said. Israeli officials said they expected the attacks would not be isolated. ”No doubt we face a wave of terror,” Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor told Israel Radio on Tuesday. The attack took place just after 3 p.m. Monday, when Tal Yehoshua-Koren, the wife of a Defense Ministry official based in New Delhi, was heading to the American Embassy School to pick up her children, police said. A single person on a motorcycle rode up behind her minivan as it was stopped at a red light and attached a bomb to the rear door, Chidambaram said. The motorcycle then sped off and the bomb blew up four or five seconds later. The driver of the van and two people in a nearby car suffered minor injuries. Yehoshua-Koren underwent surgery to remove shrapnel from near her spine and was in critical, but stable condition Tuesday morning, according to Dr. P.K. Sachdeva, a neurosurgeon treating her at Primus Hospital. ”She is responding to verbal commands. Her husband has met her. There is partial paralysis of the legs, but we are hoping that with time she will improve,” he said. Authorities were scanning closed circuit camera footage of the street, and special teams were searching for the motorcycle and its rider, Chidambaram said. ”Diplomats of every country are entitled to live and work here in peace and security, and any attempt to attack any diplomat or a member of a diplomat’s family is condemnable,” he said. After Monday’s attack, security was tightened at embassies across the capital. ”As the government of India has recommended, all diplomatic missions are taking security precautions in light of this incident,” said Peter Vrooman, spokesman for the US Embassy.

Bangkok panicked by string of blasts; suspect wounded


An explosive device he was carrying detonated in a residential area of the Thai capital. The city has been on edge since the United States last month warned of a threat of a terrorist strike on Bangkok s tourist areas, but it was unclear whether there was any link. Bomb squad investigators rushed to the scene after three men were seen fleeing after a blast at a house in the Sukhumvit Road area in the east of Bangkok. One of the men hurled an explosive device at a taxi which refused to stop and later tried to throw another device at police, triggering a blast on the side of a busy road which tore off his legs, authorities said. "An Iranian ID was found with the injured man so it s likely that he s an Iranian national," Major General Pisit Pisuthisak, deputy commander of Bangkok Metropolitan Police, told AFP by telephone from the scene. "A police forensics team is examining the house," he added. Police later used a high pressure water cannon to defuse another device found inside the building. The injured man was admitted to a Bangkok hospital where he was receiving emergency treatment. Authorities later said they had detained an Iranian man at Bangkok s Suvarnabhumi Airport for questioning but it was not immediately clear if he was one of the two other suspects, whose motives were unclear. Police were searching for the third man. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people not to "jump to conclusions" about the circumstances behind the blasts. "Let the police and intelligence agencies do their work and the public must not panic because the perpetrator was detained," she told reporters during a visit to northeast Thailand. Last month Thai police later charged a Lebanese suspected of planning an attack in Bangkok after they raided a property and discovered chemicals that could be used to make a bomb. Thai authorities alleged the Lebanese man had links to Hezbollah.