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Two Sessions 2024
ChinaMilitary

China to spend growing defence budget on combat readiness and ‘preparation for war’

  • PLA says increased military spending aims to ‘improve strategic capacity’ to defend sovereignty, security and development interests
  • China’s military spending to grow by 7.2 per cent to 1.69 trillion yuan, or US$235 billion, Premier Li Qiang says during annual parliamentary session

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Beijing will spend more to improve the work and living conditions of PLA personnel and to overhaul internal military governance, according to the Chinese defence ministry. Photo: Xinhua
Liu Zhen

China will direct much of its growing defence budget to combat readiness as challenges persist at home and abroad, according to the country’s military.

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In a statement issued on Saturday during the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), PLA delegation spokesman Wu Qian was quoted as saying that the goal was to “comprehensively improve strategic capacity to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests”.

“The instability and uncertainty of the security situation we face have increased, and the task of the military struggle is arduous and burdensome,” Wu said, adding that international military conflicts had erupted and China’s domestic anti-separatist struggle was “complex and grim”.

Opening the NPC session on Tuesday, Premier Li Qiang said military spending would grow by 7.2 per cent to 1.69 trillion yuan (US$235 billion), the same rate of increase as last year but higher than the country’s economic growth target for this year of 5 per cent.
Wu said the increased budget would mainly go to major strategic projects and programmes in the five-year plan to “fully strengthen the combat readiness and preparation for war”.

More investment would also go towards advanced technology, science, logistics and key weaponry and equipment.

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Extra funding would be used to improve work and living conditions and welfare for People’s Liberation Army personnel as well as an overhaul of internal military governance.

Anti-corruption investigators have targeted a number of PLA commanders in the past year, particularly in relation to weapons procurement.

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