Economics
China Defense Spending Set to Rise 7.5% as Xi Builds Up Military
- Xi Jinping has pledged to grow and advance Chinese military
- Experts say China spends more than officially estimated
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China set a defense budget growth target of 7.5 percent in 2019, slower than last year but still enough to fulfill President Xi Jinping’s plans to build a world-class military.
Authorities made the announcement on Tuesday in a statement released ahead of the National People’s Congress, the annual gathering of China’s legislature in Beijing. In 2018, before the trade war started to affect China’s economy, officials predicted an increase of 8.1 percent to 1.11 trillion yuan ($164 billion).