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.
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