BEIJING: China on Sunday hiked its defence budget by 7.2 per cent, marginally higher than last year, to 1.55 trillion yuan (about USD 225 billion), marking the eighth consecutive year of increase in its military spending.
China also set a five per cent growth target for 2023 as the country’s rubber-stamp Parliament commenced its annual session which also heralded a new era for Xi Jinping’s presidency as he began an unprecedented third five-year term.
Premier Li Keqiang, 67, the No 2 ranked leader after Xi and is widely regarded as far less powerful than his predecessors, signed off his 10-year stint by presenting his last work report to the National People’s Congress (NPC) in which China, the world’s second-largest economy, set a five per cent growth target for 2023.
China, last year, pegged its defence budget at 1.45 trillion yuan. This year the defence spending has been increased to 1.55 trillion yuan. However, in view of the appreciation of the dollar against the yuan, this year’s defence spending of China totalled, according to the state-run China Daily, about USD 225 billion. Last year, China’s defence spending amounted to USD 230 billion.
This is for the eighth consecutive year that China has announced a single-digit percentage point increase in its military budget.
China is the second biggest spender on defence next to the US whose defence budget for 2023 was USD 816 billion.