China Announces Its Military Budget… Military and Economic Indicators
China announced today an increase in its military budget for 2025 by 7.2%. While the military budget had long increased by more than 10%, it has dropped below this level since 2016. At the annual meeting of the Chinese legislature, the new budget of approximately $245 billion was revealed, representing a 7.2% increase.
The new increase points to a slowdown in the economy, as this rate matches last year’s increase but is much lower than previous increases. The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) and other experts estimate that China’s actual defense spending could be higher by 40% or more due to the inclusion of certain expenses in other budgets.
China plans to spend 1,784.7 billion yuan (about $245.7 billion) on defense, an amount roughly one-third of the U.S. military budget. Despite this, China’s military spending remains the second highest in the world after the United States, and China already has the largest navy in the world.
For years, China has been building a larger and more advanced army to assert its territorial claims amid rising geopolitical competition with the United States and tensions with Taiwan. China claims its military policy is “defensive,” yet it asserts control over areas it considers part of its territory, most notably Taiwan and parts of the South China Sea islands.
Globally, the United States allocates the highest military budget of $916 billion in 2023, followed by China with a budget of $296 billion, and then Russia, India, and Saudi Arabia.
