China’s National People’s Congress has approved a 7.2% increase in defence spending for 2025 raising the total official estimate to $249 billion. However, US government estimates of Chinese defence expenditure are much higher. China already has the largest army in the world along with the largest navy, but China is augmenting its defences to increase its ability in effectively exerting control over its wide and expansive territorial claims.
China is currently claiming Taiwan and large areas of the South China Sea. It is currently engaged in undersea cable sabotage against Taiwan and European countries. It is also increasingly threatening Taiwan with its navy and air force. China’s President Xi Jinping has reiterated multiple times that Taiwan’s unification with China is inevitable.
During yesterday’s People’s Congress, the Chinese government issued a 5% growth figure for 2024 and set the same target for this year. However, official Chinese economic figures are known to be unreliable. China’s property market crashed last year and unemployment spiked up along with a series of public anti-social incidents that exposed internal tensions in Chinese society.
Newsroom
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