Citing rising security threats in the region, China increased its military spending by up to 7.1%, bringing its total defence expenditure to 1.45 trillion yuan ($230 billion) in 2022.
According to budget figures released on Saturday, this year’s increase is larger than last year’s expansion of 6.8% and 6.6% in 2020. If approved by lawmakers, the proposed defence spending would mark China’s highest defence budget growth rate since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2016, China has maintained single-digit growth in its annual defence budget.
The budget is announced each year at the opening of China’s annual legislative meetings known as the Two Sessions or lianghui. During this event, Premier Li Keqiang told the nearly 2,800 lawmakers gathered in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Saturday that the armed forces must enhance their military training and combat readiness to safeguard the country’s “sovereignty, security and development interests.”
Li further stressed in his work report that it is necessary to “move faster to modernise the military’s logistics and asset management systems, and build a modern weaponry and equipment management system.”
China's military budget is set to increase by 7.1 percent in 2022, Beijing announced.
— Defence Insight (@DefenceInsight_) March 5, 2022
Some 1.45 trillion yuan ($230 billion) has been set aside for national defence, according to a government budget report.
(India's defence budget is $70 Billion)
.#China #Chinadefencebudget pic.twitter.com/UafCZ9tWPi
According to James Char, an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, “a major part of the military budget this year would likely be spent on research and development, and procurement of hardware, as China advances its military modernisation drive.”
While the rising budget is cause for alarm among the international community, which has been struggling to counter Chinese aggression, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, it is being considered normal and logical within China. Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Chinese state-owned media house Global Times (GT) on Saturday that the budget increase is “proper and reasonable given that China is aiming to develop a modernised military.”
Similarly, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told GT on Saturday that the 7.1% increase “should not be considered a high number, given the large scale of the Chinese military, the huge needs of upgrades to weapons and equipment, and the growing external threat China is facing.”
The latest increase comes on the back of a communiqué released during the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Released in October 2020, the document listed “significant strides in the modernisation of the national defence and armed forces in the next five years” as one of the main goals for the development of the economy in the 14th Five-Year Plan. The communiqué also stressed that economic development should be accompanied by the strengthening of the military.