With Xi’s goal for China to be taken more seriously as a valid global power, security and military budget has been a great part of that agenda.
China’s military spending rose by 83% in real terms between 2009 and 2018, by far the largest growth spurt in any big country. The splurge has enabled China to deploy precision missiles and anti-satellite weapons that challenge American supremacy in the western Pacific.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, says his “Chinese dream” includes a “dream of a strong-armed forces”. That, he says, involves “modernising” the PLA by 2035 and making it “world-class”—in other words, topping the US military forces.
