U.S. Pacific Fleet commander says China's military budget lacks transparency

The commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet said on Tuesday that China's military budget had a troubling lack of transparency, a day after Beijing announced the biggest hike in military spending in three years. China on Monday unveiled an 8.1 percent rise in defense spending for 2018, fuelling an ambitious military modernization program and making its neighbors, particularly Japan and self-ruled Taiwan, nervous. "These investments and commitment need to be taken with full transparency," Admiral Scott Swift said during a press roundtable in Tokyo.

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