BEIJING: China is raising its defense spending in 2022 by 7.1 percent to $229 billion, up from a 6.8 percent increase the year before.
Saturday’s announcement marks a continuation of the robust spending that has given China an increasingly powerful military that is challenging the US armed forces’ dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.
China has the world’s second-largest defense budget after the US, allowing it to maintain the largest standing military, with 3 million personnel and an arsenal of advanced weaponry, including two aircraft carriers with more on the way, stealth fighters, an advanced missile force and nuclear-powered submarines.
China has maintained the drive to expand and modernize its armed forces despite high levels of government debt and a slowing economy, partly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government says most of the spending increases will go toward improving welfare for troops. Observers say the budget omits much of China’s spending on weaponry, most of which is developed domestically.
The People’s Liberation Army exercises a strong political role as the military branch of the ruling Communist Party, overseen by President and party leader Xi Jinping, who heads the government’s armed forces commissions.
The military is largely designed to maintain its threat to use force to bring self-governing Taiwan under its control, although it has also grown more assertive in the South China Sea, the western Pacific, the Indian Ocean and elsewhere.
In his address to Saturday’s opening session of the ceremonial legislature, the National People’s Congress, Premier Li Keqiang said China would “fully implement Xi Jinping’s thinking on strengthening the armed forces and the military strategy for the new era ... and strengthen party leadership and party building in all aspects of the military.”
Li indicated no change in China’s approach to Taiwan, which it threatens to annex by force if necessary.
China will “advance peaceful growth of relations across the Taiwan Strait and the reunification of China,” Li said. “We firmly oppose any separatist activities seeking Taiwan independence and firmly oppose foreign interference.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked conjecture that China might be more disposed to use force against Taiwan if it sensed a lack of resolution on the part of the US and its allies.
China to raise defense spending by 7.1 percent to $229 billion
https://arab.news/6gjcg
China to raise defense spending by 7.1 percent to $229 billion
- Marks a continuation of the robust spending that has given China an increasingly powerful military
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
