China is to boost its defense spending by 7.2 percent this year, maintaining a steady growth rate as Beijing faces headwinds from three years of sluggish economic expansion amid mounting geopolitical challenges from Taiwan to Ukraine.
The increase, announced today in a government report due to be released in parliament, matches last year's figure.
Photo: Reuters
It remains well above China's economic growth target for this year of about 5 percent, which analysts say was expected and reflected Beijing's ambitions for continued military modernization amid roiling geopolitical challenges.
Since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) became president and commander-in-chief more than a decade ago, the defense budget has ballooned to 1.78 trillion yuan (US$245.65 billion) this year from 720 billion yuan in 2013.
Xi aims to complete full military modernization by 2035, with China's military developing new missiles, ships, submarines and surveillance technologies.
This year's report continues to stress the importance of combat readiness and scientific and strategic improvements, but also pledges to "continue improving the political conduct of the military" — an apparent reference to numerous corruption scandals affecting the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Two former defense ministers and a Central Military Commission member have been among those removed in the past two years.
Regional military attaches are closely watching the budget and the report, with some noting that the combat readiness references would mean further intense drills and deployments around Taiwan and across the wider region.
Chinese naval ships staged an unprecedented live-fire drill in the Tasman Sea last month, forcing commercial aircraft to be diverted.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a survey last month of the world's militaries that given China's wider economic constraints, "authorities face increasingly sharp questions about which areas to prioritize."
China remains the world's second-biggest military spender behind the US, whose proposed military budget for this year is US$850 billion.
Taiwan-based security analyst Sung Wen-ti (宋文笛) said Beijing was eager to project stability with moderate language and stable defense budgeting, even as it grew in strength, in contrast with the US under new President Donald Trump.
"Beijing is trying to make acceptance of China as the relatively more predictable superpower easy as possible for others," said Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council.
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
From post offices and parks to stations and even the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s vending machines are ubiquitous, but with the rapid pace of inflation cooling demand for their drinks, operators are being forced to rethink the business. Last month beverage giant DyDo Group Holdings announced it would remove about 20,000 vending machines — about 7 percent of their stock nationwide — by January next year, to “reconstruct a profitable network.” Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage, based in Nagoya, also said last month it would sell its 40,000-machine operation to Osaka-based Lifedrink Co. “The strength of the vending machine
A highway bomb attack in a restive region of southwestern Colombia on Saturday killed 14 people and injured at least 38, the latest spate of violence ahead of next month’s presidential election. Authorities blamed the attack in the Cauca department — a conflict-ridden, coca-growing region — on dissidents of the now-disbanded FARC guerrilla army, who have been sowing violence across the country. “Those who carried out this attack ... are terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on social media. “I want our very best soldiers to confront them,” he added. The leftist leader blamed the bombing
RSS