China drops 'peaceful reunification' reference to Taiwan, raises defence spending by 7.2%
China reiterated a call for "reunification" with Taiwan, but added emphasis that it wants to "be firm" in doing so and dropped the descriptor "peaceful", which had been used in previous reports. Although it is not the first time that China had omitted the word "peaceful", the change in language is closely watched as a possible sign of a more assertive stance towards Taiwan. China has been increasing its military budget, and it has been more than doubled under President Xi Jinping's 11 years in office, Reuters reported.
The hike in the budget mirrors the rate presented last year and again comes in well above the Chinese government's economic growth forecast for the year. In recent years, tensions over Taiwan have risen sharply as regional military deployments rise. China has claimed the democratically ruled island as its own.
Despite China's struggling economy, Taiwan is a major consideration in Beijing's defence spending, Li Mingjiang, a defence scholar at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, told Reuters. "China is showing that in the coming decade, it wants to grow its military to the point where it is prepared to win a war if it has no choice but to fight one," Li added. According to a Reuters report, for over a decade now, since Xi became president and commander-in-chief of China, its defence budget has ballooned to 1.67 trillion yuan ($230 billion) in 2024 from 720 billion yuan in 2013.
The percentage increase in China's military spending has consistently outpaced its annual domestic economic growth target during Xi's time in office. This year, the growth target for 2024 is about 5 per cent, similar to last year's goal, according to China government's report. Based on data from the
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