New Delhi: China on Saturday increased its annual defence budget by 7.1 per cent making it USD 290 billion from last year's budget of USD 230 billion amid the standoff with India in eastern Ladakh.
The hike makes China's defence budget over three times that of India's defence budget of 5.25 lakh crore (about USD 70 billion) for 2022.
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The increase in the defence budget comes amid the standoff against India in eastern Ladakh and its increasing political and military tensions with the US.
According to a PTI report, the Chinese government proposed the defence budget for the fiscal year 2022 at 1.45 trillion yuan (USD 230 billion), a 7.1 per cent year-on-year increase.
The draft budget proposal was presented by Premier Li Keqiang to the National People's Congress (NPC) in the country's parliament today.
In 2021, China's defence budget crossed over USD 200 billion as it grew by 6.8 per cent to USD 209 billion.
In his report presented to China's Parliament, Chinese Premier Li called for "deepening comprehensive combat readiness" from the People's Liberation Army (PLA), according to PTI.
He said the Chinese Army needs to "carry out military struggles in a resolute and flexible manner" to defend the country's sovereignty, security and development interests. After US, China has the largest defence budget in the world.