China’s defense budget for 2023 will be unveiled on Sunday at the National People’s Congress (NPC) half of the annual “Two Sessions” legislative event.
Chinese state media touted the new budget as a substantial increase in military spending – and China is reportedly spending some of its money to buy a disturbing amount of Russian uranium, with an eye to producing weapons-grade nuclear material.
China’s state-run Global Times predictably praised the authoritarian regime’s military buildup as “steadily and reasonably” investing in “modernization,” with an eye toward the “security tensions China is being confronted with” – in other words, the looming possibility that the people Beijing is trying to drive off their land might start fighting back.
The Global Times insisted modernization requires large expenditures over long periods of time and insisted there was nothing provocative about the budget increases because China spent modestly before 2000 – but then admitted the pace of increased spending is still accelerating, even after years of “modernization,” and the only reason Chinese “experts” could think of was the looming menace of Taiwan.
Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times that China’s defense budget growth rate for 2023 could be higher than that of 2022.
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