News Analysis |
China has announced an increase in its defense expenditure to 8.1% of its GDP on March
5th, fixing its economic growth rate at 6.5% in 2018. Last year, China’s defense budget comprised 7% of the country’s GDP. The current defense budget of $175 billion is three times higher than India’s defense spending. China’s standing army is the world’s largest army. It spends the most on defense sector after the US. President Xi Jinping is intending to modernize China’s forces by cutting down their number. China’s Premier Li Keqiang while delivering the work report at the 13th National People’s Congress stated, “We have completed the task of reducing the armed by 300,000 troops.”
China’s navy wants submarines with greater stealth capabilities, high-speed intelligent torpedoes, electronic weapons, supersonic cruise aircraft and long-range missiles with high accuracy as well.
China’s 2016 defense budget was $143 billion, an increase of 7.6 percent from 2015 defense budget of $142. 4 billion, officials revealed.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates that the overall 2016 figure at $226 billion and the 2015 estimate at $214 billion. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) places the 2015 defense budget at more than $180 billion, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) puts the number at $193 billion.”
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Therefore, it is quite hard to get an accurate figure because China keeps its policies confidential and only gives a top line figure. Supposedly, currently China’s defense expenditure is more than Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam combined, and it is second only to the United States. As China is growing rapidly, its defense spending may converge with that of the US in coming decades. The question is whether China’s military spending will continue to increase if the GDP reduces? Does China have ambitions to become a military superpower?
China is pursuing its principle to peacefully coexist, to rise peacefully and has no intention to confront any state militarily, it seems. Some experts assess that China’s military is not currently capable of projecting military force outside the region (Asia Pacific).
China’s 2016 defense budget was $143 billion, an increase of 7.6 percent from 2015 defense budget of $142. 4 billion, officials revealed.
China has been facing several security threats from India, perhaps, for this reason, it has increased its defense budget. For instance, the expansion of Taiwan independence groups, the South China Sea dispute, the dispute with Japan over Diaoyu Islands and the situation in the Korean Peninsula are major contributory factors behind China’s increased defense budget. This increase may convey a message to its neighbor: India to coexist peacefully. Li explained, “We have undertaken major missions involving the protection of maritime rights, countering terrorism and maintaining stability, disaster rescue and relief, international peacekeeping, escort services in the Gulf of Aden, and humanitarian rescue.”
China is investing trillions in more than 65 countries (most of them are developing) under its Belt & Road initiative. It is giving those countries some loans as well as concessional grant or grant loans to revive its ancient silk route.
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China for its border management with its neighbor states requires a sizable military. Simultaneously it needs military modernization to preserve China’s territorial integrity and to face any sort of conflicts. Moreover, China’s navy wants submarines with greater stealth capabilities, high-speed intelligent torpedoes, electronic weapons, supersonic cruise aircraft and long-range missiles with high accuracy as well. This is probably why China is spending increasingly on navy, air transport capabilities, or an aircraft carrier, to beef up its capabilities.