Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, China has hiked its annual defence budget by 7.1 per cent to US $230 billion from last year's US $209 billion, in a move that has raised eyebrows in India.
The Chinese government has 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, state-run China Daily reported quoting the draft budget proposals presented by Premier Li Keqiang to the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's parliament today.
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.
Last year, China's defence spending for the first time crossed USD 200 billion.
In 2021, the defence budget grew by 6.8 per cent to USD 209 billion.
In his work report presented to China's Parliament, Chinese Premier Li called for "deepening comprehensive combat readiness" from the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
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.
China's increase in this year's defence budget came amid the standoff with India in eastern Ladakh and its increasing political and military tensions with the US.
China has the world's second-largest defence budget after the United States.
So far, India has abstained from voting at the United Nations General Assembly to condemn Russia¡¯s invasion of Ukraine.
India also has a concern that the anti-Russian vote could cement Moscow¡¯s strategic partnership with China, with which it has a troubled relationship.
India has not supported Russia¡¯s aggression tacitly or otherwise, but it has consciously refrained from publicly condemning it.?
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