BEIJING (Realist English). China’s defense spending will grow in 2022 at the fastest pace since 2019. This was announced at the opening of the annual session of the National People’s Congress.
According to official data, the spending will grow by 7.1% to 1.45 trillion yuan ($230.16 billion). This is more than the increase of 6.8% in 2021 and 6.6% in 2020. In 2019, China’s military spending increased by 7.5% to 1.19 trillion yuan.
The central government’s total spending on the national budget is expected to increase by 14.3% this year to 13.40 trillion yuan, the finance ministry said. The 7% increase should not be considered significant, given the scale of the Chinese armed forces, the huge need to modernize weapons and equipment, as well as the growing external threat that Beijing faces, explained military expert Song Zhongping.
“We will move faster to modernize the military logistics and asset management systems, as well as to create a modern weapons and equipment management system,” Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang said.
According to him, “China will continue its independent and peaceful foreign policy.” Chinese analysts believe that “the increase in the budget is sustainable and reasonable, since the PRC needs to modernize its military potential to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of serious external threats and an unstable situation.”
