Moscow, Russia:
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seem to be on the same page on most issues these days. So much so, that Russia and the US now seem like allies, as the rest of the world is left stupefied. The latest point of agreement between the two leaders is on defence spending.
President Trump recently proposed that the United States, Russia, and China all cut their military spending and defence budgets by half. Surprisingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the suggestion, calling it a “good proposal” and saying that Moscow was more than willing “for a discussion” to explore such an outcome.
China’s Xi Jinping however, has rejected the proposal amid Beijing expansionist policies.
PUTIN BACKS TRUMP
On being asked about Moscow’s stand on President Trump’s proposal in a TV interview, President Putin said “I think it is a good idea. The US would cut its defence budget by 50 per cent and we would cut ours by 50 per cent too, and then China would join too, if it agreed.”
When asked, Mr Putin said he cannot speak for China, but confirmed that Moscow would surely be open to negotiations. “We can come to a mutual agreement with Washington (on 50 per cent defence budget cuts). We are not against it at all,” he said.
In the last three years, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia has significantly increased their military budget. President Putin had acknowledged publicly that Moscow’s defence spends accounted for nearly 9 per cent Russia’s GDP.
Moscow’s willingness to discuss a mutual cut in defence spends with Washington is another indicator that the war in Ukraine may be heading for a truce soon. Such a move by Moscow might even satisfy European and NATO allies, who are concerned about Russia’s military might and constant build-up of arms and military platforms.
CHINA REJECTS TRUMP’S PROPOSAL
Beijing has made it clear that it is not interested in slowing down its massive arms build-up. It has said that Washington and Moscow may do as they please, but Beijing will certainly not be party to it.
Calling its defence budget “limited” and “necessary”, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that “China’s defence spending is limited and necessary to protect its sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
The spokesperson further said that Beijing’s military budget is “justified” as it needs to cater to is “domestic and regional security needs”, as well as “contribute to global peace”.
Mr Lin went on to say that “China upholds a self-defence strategy, pursues coordinated development between its economy and national defence, and never engages in any arms race with any country.”
At $236 billion, China has the world’s second-largest defence budget – US being the top spender. Beijing has been increasing its military spending every year since Xi Jinping became President. In 2024 alone, Beijing increased its annual defence budget by 7.2 per cent compared to the previous year.
China has been rapidly modernising its military across land, air, sea, and space as it aims to replace US as the world’s military superpower.
DONALD TRUMP’S APPEAL
Earlier this month, Donald Trump had said “one of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia, and I want to say to them ‘let’s cut our military budget in half’,” adding that “There’s no reason for us to be spending almost $1 trillion on military. There’s no reason for you to be spending $400 billion – China is going to be at $400 billion,” he said. “I’m going to say we can settle this, we can spend this on other things.”
“And I think we will be able to do it,” President Trump had said.
President Trump has even called on Putin and Xi Jinping to denuclearise and reduce its stockpiles. US, Russia, and China have the maximum nuclear weapons in the world – accounting for more than 90 per cent of all weapons of mass destruction.
“We already have so many (nuclear weapons), you could destroy the world 100 times over,” President Trump said, adding that “China is trying to catch up because they’re very substantially behind us (US and Russia), but within five or six years, they’ll be even,” he said.