Military Spending as a Share of Government Spending (Taiwan and others)

choi

Toko Sekiguchi and Alexander Martin, Japan Approves Expansion of Military Role; Revised interpretation of constitution to allow for 'collective self-defense;' China accuses Tokyo of destabilizing region. Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2014.
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB40001424052702304344504580002653352657736

My comment:
(a) The report is translated into Chinese, SANS the bar chart.

Alexander Martin / Toko Sekiguchi, 日本内阁批准解禁集体自卫权. 华尔街日报中文版, July 2, 2014.
cn.wsj.com/gb/20140702/bas071335.asp
(b) Tōko SEKIGUCHI  関口 陶子  (The "seki" and "kan" are Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, respectively, of the kanji 関.)
(c) There is NO need to read the online report--in Chinese or English. However, what catches my attention is a bar chart in PRINT (but not online) that shows:

“Defending Positions
Japan’s military spending isn’t expected to change with the reinterpretation of the constitution. As a share of government spending, compared with the US and other Asian-Pacific nations, 2013.

South Korea 12.8%
Taiwan 11.0
US 10.0
China 8.3
Vietnam 8.1
Philippines 6.8
Malaysia 5.2
Australia 4.4
Japan 2.4

Note: Data are for fiscal years and include spending by all levels of governments.
Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute                   [maker of the graphic:] Wall Street Journal”

(d) The notation means the data are for fiscal years, not calendar years, and that the government spending, say, in US include that of federal, state and local (city or town) governments (Taiwan, in contrast, has central government alone collect and distribute revenue.
(e) Instead of government budget, “government spending” is used because the budget is not necessarily balanced (no budget surplus or deficit).
(f) Military spending in Taiwan as percentage of GDP has dropped steadily from high two to low two percent of GDP, from president Chen Shui-bian to president Ma Ying-jeou. (They have been determined by KMT-dominated legislature.)  So I am surprised to learn Taiwan’s military spending as percentage of government spending is in fact higher than America’s. Is it because Taiwan’s government budget/spending is relatively small compared with its GDP, when measured up against America’s counterparts.

This is likely to be true.
(i) State of New York had 19,421,055 the in 2010 census, but its fiscal year 2013-2014 had (actual, at the end of fiscal year) receipt of $ 140,770 million (or 140,77 billion) and disbursement of $140,865 million.
(ii) With 23 million people, Taiwan (whose fiscal year is the same as calendar year: Jan 1 to Dec 31) had, for (and at the beginning of) 2013, government spending of NT$1.91 trillion ($65.9 billion) and revenue of NT$1.73 trillion (“as the nation seeks to reduce its [budget] deficit”: Bloomberg News).