China said Wednesday it will increase its defense budget 7.2% this year.
The budget was announced at the National People’s Congress, the annual meeting of China’s legislature. The Pentagon and many experts say China’s total defense spending may be 40% higher or more because of items included under other budgets.
The increase is the same percentage as last year, far below the double-digit percentage figures of previous years and reflecting an overall slowdown in the economy. The nation’s leaders have set a target of around 5% growth for this year.
Nevertheless, China’s military spending remains the second largest behind the U.S. and it already has the world’s largest navy.
Tensions with the U.S., Taiwan, Japan and neighbors who share claims to the crucial South China Sea are seen as furthering growth in increasingly high-tech military technologies from stealth fighters to aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons.
The People’s Liberation Army — the military branch of the ruling Communist Party— has built bases on artificial islands in the South China Sea, but its main objective is asserting Chinese control over Taiwan, a self-governing democracy Beijing claims as its own territory that has close ties to the U.S.
China sent a relatively small contingent of just five planes and seven ships into territory near Taiwan on Wednesday, just days after send dozens of aircraft. Such missions are intended to demoralize and wear down Taiwan’s defenses, which have been bolstered by upgraded U.S. F-16s, tanks and missiles, along with domestically developed armaments.
In his comments at the Congress, Premier Li Qiang told the nearly 3,000 party loyalists that China still preferred a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue, but “resolutely opposes” those pushing for Taiwan’s formal independence and their foreign supporters.
