China hikes defence budget by 7.1% to $230 bn, three times India's spending
India Today
China hiked its annual defence budget by 7.1 per cent to USD 230 billion from last year. It is three times higher than India's defence budget.
China on Saturday hiked its annual defence budget by 7.1 per cent to USD 230 billion from last year's USD 209 billion, three times that of India's military spending.
The Chinese government has proposed the defence budget for the fiscal year 2022 at 1.45 trillion yuan (USD 230 billion), a 7.1 per cent year on year increase, according to the draft budget proposals presented by Premier Li Keqiang to the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's parliament on Saturday.
China's hike in defence spending comes amid the People's Liberation Army's growing incidents of muscle-flexing in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
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In his work report presented to the NPC, Premier Li called for deepening comprehensive combat readiness from the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
He said the PLA needs to carry out military struggles in a resolute and flexible manner to defend the country's sovereignty, security and development interests.
China's defence budget, which doesn't factor in the expenditure of much of its rapid modernisation of the navy, including the building of new aircraft carriers, air force and missile systems, is over three times that of India's defence budget of 5.25 lakh crore (about USD 70 billion) for 2022.
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