China announced Sunday an increase in its defense budget for the year 2023, by 7.2%, the highest rate since 2019, as it will allocate 1553.7 billion yuan ($225 billion) for defense expenditures, the second highest budget in the world after the United States, which exceeds it by about three. double.
China announced on Sunday an increase in its defense budget for the year 2023, in light of the tension with neighboring Asian countries, the United States and even NATO over the rise of its influence.
China's defense budget will increase by 7.2 percent, the highest rate since 2019, a slight acceleration from last year (+7.1), according to a report by the Ministry of Finance published during the annual session of the Chinese parliament.
China will allocate 1,553.7 billion yuan ($225 billion) for defense spending, the second highest budget in the world after the United States, which is about three times as large. However, the Chinese figures are questionable.
Niklas Svanström, director of the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, said, "A large part of (China's) military research, such as missiles, electronic defense, and so on, is not included in its military expenditures, but is considered to be in the category of civilian research and development."
China's defense budget increase remains below 10% for the eighth consecutive year.
However, it raises the suspicion of neighboring countries that have geographical disputes with China.
Among these countries are India, which often erupts along its common borders with China in the Himalayas, Japan, which disputes with China control over the Senkaku Islands or the Diaoyu Islands, according to its Chinese name, and the Philippines, which regularly witnesses incidents with China over sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea.
China also raises the concerns of Westerners, as senior US officials recently accused China of planning to invade Taiwan after a few years because it considered the island part of its territory, and Washington also accused it of sending a "fleet" of military balloons to spy on the world.
"challenge"
Even NATO, whose efforts are traditionally concentrated in Europe, has considered since last year that the Asian giant poses a "challenge" to the "interests" of its countries.
However, China denies that it poses a threat, asserting that its army is "defensive", and indicates that it has only one military base abroad in Djibouti, while the United States establishes hundreds of bases in the world.
Its military expenditures remain below 2% of its gross domestic product, compared to about 3% for Washington.
How does China spend these sums?
James Schar, a Chinese military expert at the University of Technology in Nanyang, Singapore, explained that the budget "is used to increase military salaries, fund better training conditions, and access to more advanced equipment."
Niklas Svanström also pointed out that "China is investing in its ability to control Taiwan and keep the United States out of the region."
And with Beijing tightening pressure on Taiwan, Chinese military aircraft have nearly doubled the number of breaches of the island's air defense identification zone last year.
Beijing condemns the United States for sending military ships and aircraft to the region to counter Chinese ambitions there, and expresses fears that Washington has in recent months strengthened its military cooperation with Australia, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Svanström saw that "Northeast Asia is witnessing an arms race, the engine of which is the strengthening of Chinese capabilities."
In this context, other countries in the region increased their military budgets for the year 2023, such as South Korea (+4.4%) and India (+13%).
Japan, which recently amended its defensive military doctrine, intends to double its defense budget to reach 2% of its gross domestic product by 2027, in response to China in particular.
"China has been a challenge to the West and the US-led international order," said James Scharr, since the end of World War II.
However, he added, "It is certain on the military level, at least in the short and medium term, that it is not ready to challenge Washington's status as the number one military power in the world," noting that the Chinese army "will likely continue military operations, but below the threshold of war."
The International Institute for Research on Peace in Stockholm stressed that the United States is the country that allocates the largest military expenditures in the world, amounting to $ 801 billion in 2021, according to the latest available figures.
After the United States comes China (293), India (76.6), the United Kingdom (68.4), Russia (65.9) and France (56.6).
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