China’s Military Budget: No Need For Alarm Yet – Analysis

By James Char*

At China’s 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) in March 2021, Beijing set aside funds for a 6.8 per cent increase in national defence spending over the next year — totalling some 1.35 trillion RMB (US$210 billion). Some media accounts took this as an indicator of Beijing’s readiness for war, but the...