Beijing - (AFP) - China announced on Saturday an increase in its military spending amid escalating tensions in the world, especially in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its disputes with Taiwan and the countries bordering the South China Sea.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance announced an increase in the military budget by 7.1% this year, at the opening of the annual plenary session of the National People's Assembly (Chinese Parliament).
This percentage represents an increase over last year (+6.8%) and is the highest since 2019 (+7.5%).
With the allocation of 1450 billion yuan ($230 billion), China gives itself the second largest defense budget in the world after the United States ($740 billion for 2022).
It is interesting that the growth of China's military spending is much higher than the expected growth of GDP estimated by Prime Minister Li Keqiang at 5.5% for this year.
This increase was recorded at a time when tensions escalated in the world last week, with Moscow launching a military attack on Ukraine. Beijing has so far refrained from condemning the invasion, expressing its "understanding" of the security concerns cited by Moscow to justify its move.
During a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing in early February, the two countries expressed their opposition to the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance. For his part, Chinese President Xi Jinping obtained Putin's support to denounce the "negative impact on peace and stability" of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region Quiet.
Beijing is escalating its rhetoric towards Taiwan, the self-governing island that China considers part of its territory and vows to control it, even by force. Last year, the communist regime doubled incursions into Taiwan's air defense zone, especially in response to visits by senior US officials to the island.
Last month, Xi Jinping ordered all military units to carry out “battle-centered training” and increase their capabilities in terms of “information confrontation.”
Beijing's strengthening of its military forces raises concerns among neighboring countries in light of the lack of transparency about what is included in the Chinese defense budget. Beijing claims sovereignty over the entire South China Sea in a dispute, especially with Vietnam and the Philippines, and the East China Sea, where it disputes with Japan control over the Senkaku Islands And in the Himalayas is in conflict with India.
The United States regularly sends warships to the South China Sea to counter Beijing's ambitions, and to neighboring Taiwan to support the local administration. In this context, the Chinese army continues to modernize its forces in an effort to overcome the American technological superiority over it. A hypersonic glider circled the Earth at a speed of more than 6,000 kilometers per hour.
The Pentagon said that the plane fired a projectile while it was flying, in a development that apparently surprised the Americans, as Washington does not yet have this type of weapon.
The People's Liberation Army is the armed arm of the Chinese Communist Party, and the party's leadership needs the continued support of the military," said James Char, an expert on defense issues at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
One way to achieve this is to prove that the needs of the People's Liberation Army are a priority.
For its part, the Chinese army gives priority to modernizing its equipment with the aim of transforming into a “fully computerized and mechanized force.”
