China on Tuesday announced that it will increase its military spending by 7.5%. This is slightly lower than last year’s 8% increase, but still higher than the growth rate of the Chinese economy, which is predicted not to exceed 6.5% this year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has accelerated the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military every since he came into power in 2013. According to Andrew Erickson of the US Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, “[n]o one has presided over this level of Chinese military development in Chinese history before Xi Jinping.”
Read more: China’s military is going from strength to strength under Xi Jinping
