SECOND-LARGEST: China announced an increase in military spending that places it only behind the US. The nation’s expenditure has slipped to 1.8 percent of GDP
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 12, 2018
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday urged the government to increase the national defense budget and increase conscription in response to China’s record-high military spending and aggression.
China announced that it is to hike its official military budget 8.1 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan (US$174 billion) this year, about 16 times Taiwan’s defense budget of NT$327.8 billion (US$11.19 billion), aggravating the already heavily tilted cross-strait military balance, the TSU told a news conference in Taipei.
With its military spending jumping from 808.2 billion yuan in 2014 to 1.1 trillion this year, China has become the second-largest country in terms of military spending, losing only to the US, former TSU legislator Lai Chen-chang (賴振昌) said.
However, according the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China’s real defense budget is much more than the official figures, Lai said. [FULL STORY]