China to raise defence spending as Beijing adopts tougher language against Taiwan

China will increase its defence spending by 7.2 per cent in 2024 as Beijing adopts a tougher language against Taiwan.

According to official reports, this year’s military budget has increased almost twice under Xi Jinping’s more than a decade in office.

The increase matches last year’s rate and exceeds the government’s growth forecast.

As China released the budget figures, it has also hardened its stance against Taiwan, reported Reuters. Moreover, the government work delivered by Premier Li Qiang at the opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday did not mention the “peaceful reunification.”

In recent years, tensions have risen steadily over Taiwan and elsewhere across East Asia as regional military developments rise in the democratically ruled island that China claims as its own.

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Li Mingjiang, a defence scholar at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, said that Taiwan is a prominent concern for Beijing’s defence spending despite a suffering Chinese economy. “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.