Taiwan Tensions Rise: China's Shift and Military Expansion
Taiwan Tensions Rise: China's Shift and Military Expansion
China drops 'peaceful reunification' reference to Taiwan, China boosts military spending by 7.2%, vows to ‘resolutely’ deter Taiwan ‘separatist activities’
UPDATES: China will boost its defence spending by 7.2% this year, fuelling a military budget that has more than doubled under Xi Jinping's decade-plus in office as Beijing hardens its stance on Taiwan, according to official reports on Tuesday.
In the government’s work report also released Tuesday, Beijing vowed to “resolutely oppose separatist activities aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ and external interference.”
Soldiers of People's Liberation Army (PLA) march in formation past Tiananmen Square during a rehearsal before a military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of People's Republic of China, on its National Day in Beijing, China October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
China drops 'peaceful reunification' reference to Taiwan
By Yew Lun Tian and Laurie Chen, Reuters
China will boost its defence spending by 7.2% this year, fuelling a military budget that has more than doubled under Xi Jinping's decade-plus in office as Beijing hardens its stance on Taiwan, according to official reports on Tuesday.
The increase mirrors the rate presented in last year's budget and again comes in above the government's economic growth forecast for this year.
China also officially adopted tougher language against Taiwan as it released the budget figures, dropping the mention of "peaceful reunification" in a government work report delivered by Premier Li Qiang at the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's rubber-stamp parliament, on Tuesday.
Tensions have risen sharply in recent years over Taiwan, the democratically ruled island that China claims as its own, and elsewhere across East Asia as regional military deployments rise.
Li Mingjiang, a defence scholar at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, said that despite a struggling Chinese economy, Taiwan is a major consideration for Beijing's defence spending.
"China is showing that in the coming decade it wants to grow its military to the point where it is prepared to win a war if it has no choice but to fight one," Li said.
Since Xi Jinping became president and commander-in-chief more than a decade ago, the defence budget has ballooned to 1.67 trillion yuan ($230.60 billion) this year from 720 billion yuan in 2013.
The percentage rise in military spending has consistently outpaced the annual domestic economic growth target during his time in office; this year the growth target for 2024 is about 5%, similar to last year's goal, according to the government work report.
The defence budget is closely watched by China's neighbours and the United States, who are wary of Beijing's strategic intentions and the development of its armed forces.
Based on data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), this year's budget marks the 30th consecutive year of Chinese defence spending increases.
James Char, a security scholar at the RSIS, said that despite the defence budget's outpacing GDP growth, it had remained about 1.3% of overall GDP in the last decade and had put no stress on the national coffers.
"Of course, the country's longer-term economic fortunes will determine whether this can be sustained going forward," Char said.
The purchase of new equipment is likely to take up the largest single chunk of the budget as the military works to meet Xi's goal of full modernisation by 2035, the IISS said in research published last month.
Char said tighter resource management would also be a priority for military leadership after high-profile personnel purges related to weapons procurement.
The Central Military Commission, the top body in charge of military matters, last July ordered a "clean up" of the procurement bidding process and invited the public to report irregularities.
The commission has not announced the results of its investigation, but at least nine generals, including four directly in charge of procurement, have been stripped of their title as parliamentarians, a necessary procedure before they can be charged in court.
Two former defence ministers, Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, have also gone missing without explanation, which in China often means they are under investigation.
Li had been in charge of military procurement from 2017 to 2022. When asked whether Li would attend the parliament sessions, parliament spokesman Lou Qinjian told Singapore paper Lianhe Zaobao on Monday that Li "cannot attend because he is no longer a delegate".
In the government work report, China reiterated a call for "reunification" with Taiwan, but added emphasis that it wants to "be firm" in doing so and dropped the descriptor "peaceful", which had been used in previous reports.
Although it is not the first time that China had omitted the word "peaceful", the change in language is closely watched as a possible sign of more assertive stance towards Taiwan.
Taiwan's defence ministry and Mainland Affairs Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The island's defence minister had said on Tuesday Taiwan's armed forces would increase the number of missile drills they hold this year.
Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist and nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said that the language on Taiwan has "moderately hardened".
"Beijing appears to be balancing between projecting increased toughness on Taiwan with stabilising relations with Taiwan's international friends," he said.
After the Democratic Progressive Party's Lai Ching-te won the presidential election in Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party's fourth-ranked leader, Wang Huning, said at a high-level Taiwan policy meeting last month that China would "resolutely combat" any efforts towards Taiwan independence this year. Previous years' statements from the annual meeting only vowed to "resolutely oppose" Taiwan independence.
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Missiles on the background of the Chinese flag. Anton Petrus | Moment | Getty Images
China boosts military spending by 7.2%, vows to ‘resolutely’ deter Taiwan ‘separatist activities’
By Clement Tan, CNBC News
China is set to increase its defense spending by 7.2% to 1.67 trillion yuan in 2024, according to a budget report released by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, as part of the country’s annual parliamentary meetings in Beijing.
This year’s military budget announcement comes against the backdrop of several generals from the People’s Liberation Army, including the country’s previous Defense Minister Li Shangfu, losing their positions amid President Xi Jinping’s broad anti-corruption probe in the past year.
China’s 2024 military budget expansion follows a 7.2% increase last year, a 7.1% spike in 2022, 6.8% increase in 2021, 6.6% climb in 2020 and 7.5% growth in 2019, according to official data.
China’s official military budget is second only to the United States in the world, though some unofficial estimates suggest the scale of Beijing’s military spending may be larger than officially claimed.
China maintains its claims over self-governed Taiwan and President Xi Jinping regards reunification as a “historical inevitability.” In the government work report also released Tuesday, Beijing vowed to “resolutely oppose separatist activities aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ and external interference.”
From land border skirmishes with India a few years ago to confrontations in the South China Sea with Southeast Asian countries more recently, tensions have heightened between Beijing and its neighbors.
On Tuesday, the Philippines accused China’s coast guard of “dangerous maneuvers” that led to a collision between a Chinese vessel and one of its vessels on its way to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.
This is not the first time Chinese vessels have clashed with Philippine vessels on resupply missions to troops stationed on an old warship that Manila grounded more than a decade ago.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s claims over vast portions of the South China Sea have no basis in international law — a ruling that Beijing has rejected.
Beijing has also taken offence at joint exercises and patrols that U.S. and other Western naval powers have conducted with various Asian nations in international waters that Beijing claims as its own.
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