In 2024, China’s defense expenditure will reach 1.665 trillion yuan ($231.4 billion).
Beijing:
China announced on Tuesday it would increase defense spending in 2024 as hostility over Taiwan and the South China Sea intensifies. The 7.2% increase was the same as last year’s figure and was announced at the start of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber-stamp parliament.
China will spend 1.665 trillion yuan ($231.4 billion) on defense by 2024, according to a budget report outlining the government’s financial plans for the coming year.
Although the People’s Liberation Army outnumbers the U.S. military in personnel numbers, China has the second-largest defense budget in the world, behind the United States.
Still, China’s military spending in recent years has been about three times less than Washington’s.
National People’s Congress spokesman Lou Qinjian said on Monday that the world’s second-largest economy would maintain “reasonable growth” in its defense budget to “safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.”
– Look with suspicion –
Spending on the country’s armed forces has been increasing for decades, broadly in line with economic growth.
Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) shows that China’s military spending accounts for 1.6% of GDP, which is much lower than that of the United States or Russia.
But Washington and other major powers in the region, including Japan, are skeptical of China’s defense expansion. Beijing has a territorial dispute with Japan over islands in the East China Sea.
China is also increasingly flexing its muscles in the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international arbitration ruling that declares its position unfounded.
China’s increased spending has also raised concerns about self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing says is part of its territory and can be claimed by force if necessary.
At the opening of the National People’s Congress on Tuesday, the government work report stated that China would again “firmly oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities” in 2024.
-“NATO’s biggest challenge”-
China has also said it is concerned about cooperation between its regional rivals and the United States and NATO.
NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said in January that China was “the biggest long-term challenge facing NATO allies.”
“We see them in Africa, we see them in the Arctic, we see them trying to take control of our critical infrastructure,” he added.
James Char, an expert on Chinese military issues at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), told AFP that China “made a series of major purchases last year, including a significant increase in the number of nuclear warheads.”
According to Sipri, Beijing will have 410 nuclear warheads in 2023, 60 more than the previous year.
However, that’s still significantly behind Washington’s 3,708 and Moscow’s 4,489.
Additionally, “recent military corruption scandals have raised doubts about the effectiveness of (Beijing’s) missile force and overall military professionalism,” said Adam Ni, editor of China Newsletter China Internal Reference.
China’s Rocket Force, the military unit that oversees its nuclear arsenal, underwent a leadership overhaul last year following media reports of a corruption investigation involving its former commander.
In a series of firings, former Defense Minister Ri Sang-bok was fired without explanation last October after just a few months in office.
– The United States is still the hegemon –
Nanyang Technological University’s Char said corruption needs to be addressed if President Xi Jinping’s “goal of replacing the U.S. armed forces as the world’s leading military power” is to be achieved.
For now, Washington remains firmly on top.
According to Sipri, the United States has the highest military spending in the world – the latest figures show that it will reach $877 billion by 2022.
China ranks second, followed by Russia and India.
Ni of Internal Reference said the United States also has “global influence and alliance networks that China cannot replicate in the short term.”
Washington has hundreds of military bases overseas, while Beijing has just one in Djibouti.
“Given the PLA’s shortcomings, especially in terms of joint armed forces and joint operations, Beijing has neither the wherewithal nor the inclination to initiate a conflict with Washington or invade the Taiwan Strait, as it should be,” Char said.
“However, a lingering concern is that aggressive interactions between the PLA and other militaries in the region have the potential to go awry and escalate into a full-scale conflict.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
