China Reins in Defence Spending as Donald Trump Boosts Military Budget

Telegraph.co.uk

04 March 2017

Beijing will increase its defence budget by about seven percent in 2017, an official said on Saturday, continuing what experts see as a trend of “reduced ambitions” from the Chinese military as Donald Trump seeks to build up US military might.

The announcement comes days after Mr Trump said he intended to boost by about 10 percent the US military budget – which is already about four times that of China’s.

Fu Ying, spokeswoman for China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), said Beijing’s spending would increase by “around 7 percent”, which follows from last year’s 7.6 percent rise, the lowest figure for six years.

… Mr Trump’s plans would see military spending increase to $603 (£491 billion). Richard Bitzinger, a military expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said: “It sounds like the Chinese are being forced to rein in their ambitions, at least for now, when it comes to military modernisation.

Categories:

IDSS / Online