China’s ‘two sessions’ 2023: Asia-Pacific uncertainties drive arms build-up
- China is the latest country in the region to announce a boost in its defence budget, with analysts expecting the trend to gather pace
- Growing humanitarian crises adding to demand for military capacity in unstable security environment, observers say
An increasingly challenging security environment has prompted countries in the Asia-Pacific region to jack up their military spending this year, with observers expecting the build-up to gather pace.
“The armed forces should intensify military training and preparedness across the board, develop new military strategic guidance, devote greater energy to training under combat conditions, and make well-coordinated efforts to strengthen military work in all directions and domains,” he told the thousands of deputies.
Li cited uncertainties in the external environment and said attempts to “suppress and contain China” were escalating.
04:30
The ‘two sessions’ – China’s most important political meetings of the year
Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, an international studies professor at India’s Nalanda University, said the regional security environment was highly unstable.
