China on Wednesday announced a 7.2 per cent hike in its annual defense budget to take it to over $245 billion, as it continues to boost its military capabilities across land, air, sea, nuclear, space and cyber domains at a rapid clip to take on adversaries in the Indo-Pacific and beyond amid ongoing geopolitical churn.
Experts say China’s actual defense spending is at least 40-50 per cent more than what it declares because it allocates funds under different heads to mask its massive military expenditure. The official Chinese defense budget is still more than three times of India’s ($79 billion) and second only to the US, which will spend over $900 billion on its military this year.
China’s sustained modernization of its 2-million strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is designed to strategically challenge the US across the globe and prevent any third-party intervention in Taiwan as well as coercively flex its muscles in territorial disputes with its neighbors in South and East China Seas and the 3,488-km line of actual control with India. There are as yet no signs of de-escalation and de-induction of PLA troops along LAC after last Oct’s disengagement at two remaining face-off sites at Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh.
