China said its defense spending would grow by 7.2 percent this year — the fastest pace since 2019 amid increasing tensions with the US on a range of issues, including Taiwan.
The increase in the world’s second-largest defense budget came as Beijing announced an economic growth goal of about 5 percent for this year — one of its lowest in decades.
Military expenditure is expected to rise to 1.55 trillion yuan (US$224.4 billion) this year, according to the Chinese Ministry of Finance’s annual report released yesterday at the start of the Chinese National People’s Congress in Beijing.
Photo: AFP
It officially rose 7.1 percent last year.
Spending on China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has increased by at least 6.6 percent each year for the past three decades, keeping pace or often exceeding economic growth.
Outgoing Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) told congress delegates that “external attempts to suppress and contain China are escalating.”
“The armed forces should intensify military training and preparedness across the board,” he said as he presented the government’s annual work report to thousands of amassed delegates in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
The military must “devote greater energy to training under combat conditions, and ... strengthen military work in all directions and domains,” he added.
China’s defense spending still pales in comparison with the US, which has allotted more than US$800 billion for its military this year.
The defense figure that China unveils every year is among the few official announcements that offer signs of progress the PLA is making in its revamp.
Analysts outside the nation say the actual amount far exceeds the official sum, partly because research and development expenditures are not included.
This year’s figure “feels in part a reflection of the growing increase in military spending we see globally and regionally, while also a reflection of increased sense of threat in Beijing and a need to be prepared for eventualities,” said Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“Taiwan will clearly be seen as an important focus, but my view would be that Chinese preparations go farther than this and remain about building a globally competitive military,” Pantucci said.
Yesterday’s conservative economic goals followed China posting just 3 percent growth last year, widely missing its 5.5 percent target as the economy strained under the effects of strict COVID-19 containment policies and a property crisis.
Li struck a bullish tone in his speech, saying that China’s economy “is staging a steady recovery and demonstrating vast potential and momentum for further growth.”
The sustained growth in defense spending despite sagging economic expectations showed that “security is now much more important for the national leadership” than before, said Alfred Muluan Wu (吳木鑾), an associate professor at the University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
“It is even, to some extent, more important than economic growth,” he said.
China also plans to increase its public security budget by 6.4 percent — the fastest pace in five years. That rise comes after the Asian nation experienced its most widespread protests in decades in November last year due to broad discontent over harsh COVID-19 regulations.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
RSS