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.
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
RSS