China’s 2017 defense budget increased 7 percent from 2016 to a total of 1.04 trillion yuan ($152 billion).
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The Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) published the report on the central and local budget draft for 2018 at the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) on March 5, 2018.
In this year’s work report, Li claims there has been new progress in China’s work with Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan; the “One Country, Two Systems” approach has continued to flourish; exchanges and cooperation with Hong Kong and Macau have deepened and that had enabled growth and stability in the two areas. The US total is about nine times that of Russian Federation, who have the third biggest military budget.
In a sign Beijing might accept slower growth, Li cut the government’s budget deficit target to 2.6 percent of gross domestic product from last year’s 3 percent, which would reduce the stimulus from public spending.
The defence budget increase has roughly kept pace with China’s national economic output in recent years.
According to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China’s annual military expenditure held a steady 2 percent share of the nation’s GDP for the past 30 years. “China’s development will not pose a threat to other countries”, Zhang said.
The economy grew by 6.9 percent previous year but that was supported by a boom in bank lending and real estate sales that regulators are trying to curb due to concern about rising debt.
In his speech, Li Keqiang also said that over the last few years the world has witnessed an anemic recovery in the global economy, the volatility of global financial markets, and the sharp rise of protectionism.
Referring to the ongoing talks, Zhang said for the past couple of days, China and the USA had consultations over the trade issues and agreed to hold the talks in Beijing to deepen the bilateral cooperation.
Mr. Li also underscored that during the phase of modernisation, the military must fully observe the leadership of President Xi Jinping and the Party.
Xi, who began his second five-year term as China’s leader in October last year, has pledged to build a society where all citizens can enjoy comfortable lives before 2021, the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party’s founding.
“Xi Jinping repeated that he wanted to create a modern army with Chinese characteristics by the 2020 framework”.
In its annual report on Chinese military power, the Pentagon said past year that “total military-related spending for 2016 exceeded $180 billion”, noting that “it is hard to estimate actual military expenses, largely due to China’s poor accounting transparency”.
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“This makes sense for China in the context of the new focus on financial de-risking, poverty alleviation and environment clean-up, but is less good news at the margin for those economies that have high export exposure to China”.
