A draft budget, which will be approved by the National People’s Congress, said defense spending would be increased to 1.45 trillion yuan, or about $230 billion.
A draft budget, which will be approved by the National People’s Congress, said defense spending would be increased to 1.45 trillion yuan, or about $230 billion.
China on Saturday increased its defense spending to 7.1% as well as announced an annual GDP growth target of “about 5.5%” for the coming year.
China’s premier and second-ranked leader Li Keqiang announced the GDP target at the opening of the week-long session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), or parliament, which approves policies for the coming year.
A draft budget, which the NPC will approve, said defense spending would increase by 7.1% to 1.45 trillion yuan, or about $230 billion. The military budget was increased by 6.8% last year when it crossed the $200 billion mark for the first time. India’s military spending this year was announced at around $70 billion, up 4.4% over the previous year, although a substantial portion of India’s defense spending goes towards imports and pensions.
The Communist Party-run Global Times said the increases this year reflected “security threats facing China”.
“The US has been applying military pressure on China over the past few years, causing trouble at China’s doorstep through operations such as provocative, monthly warship transits in the Taiwan Strait, close reconnaissance missions with spy planes in the East China Sea. and the incursion of several warships into Chinese territorial waters in the South China Sea more than 1,200 times in 2021, and in the South China Sea in the name of freedom of navigation,” the newspaper said, adding that “the US also organized the security of Japan, India and Australia.” Dialogue with the Quad, and formed new security agreements with Australia and the UK AUKUS, both designed to militarily encircle China. The paper noted that “while the situation on the Sino-India border has been kept stable and manageable, the standoff is yet to be fully resolved after the round of talks.”
A large part of the budget in recent years has been devoted to modernizing the PLA Navy, which will launch China’s third aircraft carrier this year. The other spending will fund plans to “expand production of the J-20 stealth fighter jet and modernize the nuclear arsenal”, the paper quoted analysts as saying, part of broader plans to create a “world-class military”, equivalent to the US. , by 2049 when the People’s Republic of China will be 100 years old.
On the economy front, Premier Lee announced a projected GDP target of “about 5.5%”, down from last year’s 6% target, when the economy grew 8.1% but slowed to 4% in the previous quarter. He said “economic stability” was the priority, with a target of 11 million new jobs in 2022.
China will “continue its effective routine COVID-19 containment to prevent inbound cases and domestic resurgence”, he said, implying that a “zero COVID” strategy and international travel restrictions are likely to remain in China, which is the only major The country is Keep doing this.
The GDP target would mean striking a balance between sustaining growth and investing in infrastructure without exacerbating the debt problem. reducing” as a headwind.
“As a result, a significant decline in the economy is expected to remain in 2022,” the forecast said, “a wave of regulatory policy measures targeting technology sectors with the intent to strengthen competition, consumer privacy and data governance, have increased Policy uncertainty which is further exacerbated by the financial stress faced by large property developers following policy efforts aimed at deleveraging.