According to a draft budget released recently, China’s annual defense budget will maintain single-digit growth for the sixth consecutive year, with defense spending in 2021 planned to be about 1.35 trillion yuan, up 6.8 percent year-on-year, according to a March 5 report by Xinhua News Agency.
As the world’s second-largest economy and most populous country, China’s defense budget per capita in 2021 will be less than 1,000 yuan, commented Global Times. Moreover, a comparison of the relevant situation from 2012 to 2017 shows that China’s defense spending averaged about 1.3 percent of GDP, much lower than the U.S.’s about 3.5 percent, Russia’s about 4.4 percent, and less than India’s about 2.5 percent.
In terms of defense spending as a share of fiscal spending, China averages about 5.3%, also much lower than the United States, Russia and India. In terms of defense spending per capita, China’s national defense spending per capita in the fiscal year 2017 was much lower than that of all major countries except India.
Song Xiaojun, a military expert, said the Indian media emphasized in their headlines when reporting on China’s defense budget for 2021 that it is more than three times that of India’s. But the gap should not be that big by PPP, especially if India has a high rate of indigenization of arms and equipment.
