China Moves Up the Weapons Spending Ladder

"China has overtaken Japan to become the biggest military spender in Asia -- and the fourth biggest in the world -- according to a new report on global arms spending.

China chalked up almost $50 billion in military expenditures in 2006, according to the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). The top five countries were the United States ($528.7bn), Britain ($59.2bn), France ($53.1bn), China ($49.5bn) and Japan ($43.7bn)."

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