The Chinese government will increase its military spending by 7.2% this year, reaching a total budget of 1.56 trillion Yuan.
In US dollars, China’s budget is now $230 billion, up nearly $16 billion from its 2022 budget. China’s Finance Ministry announced the new cash infusion in its annual report on Sunday. The spending hike comes as the United States warns of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the near future. US officials have also warned China against sending lethal aid to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the increase, US military spending continues to dwarf China’s. The US military is engaged in efforts around the world, including the supply of weapons to defend Ukraine.
However, China’s budget increase follows a year of unprecedented tensions between China, the United States and Taiwan. CIA Director William Burns said last month that Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
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The Communist Party of China is increasing its 2023 military budget by 7.2 percent to about $230 billion. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP)
China’s annual military budget now stands at 1.56 trillion Yuan, or $230 billion. (CPHOTO/Future release via Getty Images)
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“We know this as a matter of intelligence [Xi] has instructed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready by 2027 to conduct a successful invasion,” Burns said on Feb. 3. “Now, that doesn’t mean that it has decided to conduct an invasion in 2027, or any another year, but it’s a reminder of the seriousness of his focus and his ambition.”
“Therefore, I think it is very much in our interest as a political issue in the United States to clarify our commitment to the status quo, to clarify that we are not interested as a country in changing that status quo, that we are deeply opposed to anyone trying to change it unilaterally, especially with the use of force”, the the CIA director also said.
Tensions over Taiwan escalated in August 2022 after then-spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island. China has expressed outrage at the move, despite US lawmakers frequently visiting the island.
The Chinese military conducted live-fire exercises around Taiwan for weeks after Pelosi’s visit, an apparent mock invasion.
US officials have warned that Xi Jinping could order an invasion of Taiwan as early as 2027. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)
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Taiwan seceded from mainland China in 1949 when democratic forces fled to the island after losing a civil war to the Communist Party of China. Mainland China has since claimed to own the island, despite functioning as an autonomous democracy.
