Opinion | As China builds its military muscle, it will pivot to head games
- Ankit Panda writes that as the great-power competition with the US heats up, China’s defence spending is delivering a modern military
- The next step will be to develop the experience and knowledge base of its military personnel
March has marked the budget season for the United States and China alike. Earlier this month, at the National People’s Congress, Beijing announced a 7.5 percentage increase in its projected defence spending over last year. It will spend US$177.54 billion on sustaining, growing, and modernising its military. The United States, a little more than a year after acknowledging it was in an era of great-power competition again, announced a US$750 billion defence budget.
Headlines have zeroed on the relative decrease in spending growth on defence. After all, in 2018, China’s defence budget growth stood at 8.1 per cent. Percentages can be misleading, however. China’s military modernisation objectives remain as ambitious as ever. It continues to plan for multiple contingencies and allocate resources as necessary.
Commensurate with its rapid economic growth and growing global ambitions, China has pursued a large-scale modernisation – and more recently reorganisation – of its military. Under President Xi Jinping, the People’s Liberation Army has diversified away from its historical focus as a land-based force towards the seas.
But the core missions that motivate China haven’t changed – the list has simply gotten longer as the country has risen. A contingency in the Taiwan Strait remains the PLA’s primary war-fighting scenario and nearly every aspect of Chinese military modernisation and expansion is meant to assist in that mission.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party is ever aware that for it to retain its position atop China’s millions, the PLA must be well managed and, above all, loyal to Xi. Here it is instructive to remember that the PLA is not a professional army like one may find in other countries; it is the armed wing of the party. And atop the party is Xi himself.
