El Gobierno de la República Popular China (PRC) anunció un incremento del 7.2% (Respecto del período anterior), en su presupuesto anual de defensa del año 2023, Analistas en el área, opinan que se trata de un incremento “sostenido pero moderado”, considerando la situación de tensión permanente en el Mar del Sur de China y Taiwán, la invasión rusa a Ucrania y el incremento de las tensiones y potenciales conflictos a nivel global. Además, China lleva adelante un programa de modernización integral de sus FFAA, que incluye el desarrollo y adquisición de nuevas armas y equipos, el incremento del adiestramiento y nivel de alistamiento de sus tropas, así como el bienestar del personal militar, entre otros. Estos son objetivos que deberían completarse en 2035.
China on Sunday announced a draft budget for 2023 which will see the country’s annual defense budget rise to 1.5537 trillion yuan ($224.79 billion), an increase of 7.2 percent，remaining single-digit for the 8th consecutive year. Analysts said that the figure marks a reasonable and restrained boost amid military spending sprees by many other countries around the world in light of global security tensions.
It is part of the country’s efforts to meet the need of modernizing its national defense in order to safeguard national sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests facing external threats and instabilities.
The proposed defense budget growth was made public in a draft budget report issued at the opening of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature, on Sunday.
It marks that China plans to maintain a single-digit growth for defense budget for the eighth consecutive year since 2016, and a steadily increasing pace since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020. The growth rate was 6.6 percent in 2020, 6.8 percent in 2021 and 7.1 percent in 2022.
Experts said that the defense budget boost is reasonable due to the country’s military modernization roadmap, the growing security threats in the world, as well as further optimized COVID-19 policies that encourage economic growth as well as more military diplomatic activities.
China is aiming to achieve the centenary objectives of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by 2027, basically realize the modernization of national defense and the armed forces by 2035, and fully build the armed forces into world-class forces by the mid-21st century, the Xinhua News Agency reported on August 1, 2022, which marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the PLA.
To meet this roadmap, China needs to gradually increase its defense expenditure over many years as in tandem with the country’s economic growth, a Beijing-based military expert told the Global Times on the condition of anonymity.
National defense modernization consists of mainly the development and procurement of new weapons and equipment, the maintaining of a high level of realistic combat-oriented exercises of the troops, as well as the improved welfare to military personnel, the expert said.
In 2023, the PLA is expected to commission more advanced warplanes including J-20 stealth fighter jets and J-16 multirole fighter jets at a time when legacy J-7 fighter jets are being decommissioned, and conduct sea trials for the country’s third aircraft carrier, the electromagnetic catapults-equipped Fujian. It is also expected to hold more realistic combat-oriented drills that consume large amounts of costly live munitions and fuels, according to observers.
The significance of national defense modernization has become particularly highlighted due to the deteriorating global security situation over the past year, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the provocative visit of then US house speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island of Taiwan, which led to a series of unprecedented large-scale military exercises encircling the island.
The US and its allies including Japan have been hyping the Taiwan question and potential military conflicts with China. The US military frequently send aircraft and vessels to conduct close-in reconnaissance on China’s doorsteps, sometimes trespassing into Chinese territorial waters in the South China Sea and provocatively transiting the Taiwan Straits, stirring up trouble. Japan officially broke away from its post-WWII defense-only principle in 2022 and has begun to procure offensive missiles including US-made Tomahawks that could reach foreign countries.
Many countries around the world are on military spending sprees in 2023, with the US topping the list with $817 billion budget for the Pentagon, more than three times than that of China. Japan planned $51 billion defense budget, which is record-breaking 26.3 percent higher than previous year. India is expected to raise defense budget by 13 percent. Other countries like the UK, France, Germany and Australia are also looking to boost defense spending, according to media reports.
The world today is facing challenges unseen in a century. Under the current global security situation, China needs to allocate enough budgets to build a strong military and sufficient training to build up a credible deterrence to prevent conflicts from happening, win them if they take place, and safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, analysts said.
Fuente: https://www.globalsecurity.org
