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CHINA AN INCREASE IN THE MILITARY BUDGET CONTINUES IN A HOSTILE GEOPOLITICAL CONTEXT | |
Beijing plans to allocate 1,665.5 billion yuan ($231.4 billion) for defense purposes, which is three times less than Washington's military spending. The Asian nation maintains a policy of "reasonable growth" of its military budget in order to "protect its sovereignty, security and development interests", said Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the NPC session. In comparison, the United States retains the title of biggest defense spender, with $877 billion in 2022, according to the most recent data. China ($292 billion), Russia ($86.4 billion), India ($81.4 billion), Saudi Arabia ($75 billion), United Kingdom ($68. 5 billion), Germany ($55.8 billion), France ($53.6 billion), South Korea ($46.4 billion) and Japan ($46 billion) follow respectively. In its proposed military budget, China's Finance Ministry stressed the need to focus resources on "key areas" considered "priorities" to boost technological advancement. This increase is part of "the full implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on military strengthening", specifies the document, adding that Beijing plans to provide "stronger financial guarantees to modernize national defense and armed forces in all areas, and to consolidate the integration of national strategies as well as strategic capabilities. Chinese military spending has been increasing for several decades, broadly keeping pace with economic growth. However, this increase in the defense budget is in contrast to an unprecedented economic crisis that has shaken China for several years, thus underscoring the determination of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to continue its military efforts at all costs. Moreover, the country's official military spending figure is well below actual spending, a traditional practice of opacity in communist China, although this hardly fools observers. Last September, US Senator Dan Sullivan, a member of the Senate Military Committee in Washington, declared that China's "real" military budget was actually approaching $700 billion, according to analyzes by US intelligence services. i.e. more than three times the official amount announced by Beijing. Military spending represents the largest item in the Chinese budget, absorbing around 40% of total central government spending. These expenditures are ten times higher than those devoted to education and almost five times higher than those allocated to science and technology. The Chinese government has stressed that military spending is "a priority", while spending in other sectors is all reduced "in accordance with the need for budgetary savings". This military effort comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States since President Joe Biden took office in the White House in January 2022, as well as equally high tensions with Japan and other countries. from East Asia. The trend is viewed with suspicion by the United States, Australia, India and the Philippines, which are in dispute with China over control of islets and reefs in the South China Sea. It also raises concerns in Taiwan, an island of 23 million inhabitants claimed by China, which hopes to "reunify" this island territory with the rest of the country, by force if necessary. |
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| Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld | |
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