China already has the world’s second largest defense budget after the US. This year will see the strongest strengthening since 2019, totaling 1,553.7 billion yuan.. The first rationale was outlined by the outgoing Prime Minister: Li Keqiang recommended that external efforts to curb Chinese expansion “don’t stop.”.
In Keqiang’s words, framed against the backdrop of Sino-US tensions over Taiwan, the war in Ukraine and hand-tightening between the West and Russia -, “Intensification” of military training, especially “combat preparation”.The nine-day annual parliamentary session in Beijing will send 69-year-old Xi Jinping to five more Chinese presidents.
Over the past ten years, China’s People’s Army has experienced a reduction in its numbers within the framework of the policy of modernization, professionalization of the armed forces and cost optimization. It currently employs 2,035,000 men and womenAccording to a calculation Think tank British International Institute for Strategic Studies.
This force includes 965,000 in the ground forces, 395,000 in the air force and 260,000 in the navy. The strategic missile unit currently has 120,000 operational units.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has set 2035 as the peak of the country’s military modernization.
China is estimated to have around 350 nuclear weapons based on a 2022 estimate by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Peace Research (CIPR). There are 5,428 in the United States and 5,977 in Russia. Washington believes Beijing wants to equip itself with 1,500 warships by 2035.
As for the economy, after three years of recession, due to the tight policy of epidemic controls, Beijing is now counting on “a solid recovery”.According to Keqiang. The target GDP growth for this year is “around five percent”, against three percent in 2022, still the weakest in decades..
“China’s economic growth has been uneven due to many unforeseen factors at home and abroad, such as the pandemic,” argued the Chinese premier, who will soon be replaced by Li Qiang, a figure close to Xi Jinping. Former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai.
“Under the strong guidance of the Party Central Committee, we have effectively coordinated epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development,” Li Keqiang countered.
w/ agencies
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