Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in the Government Work Report he presented to the Fifth Session
of the 13th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on March 5, 2022,
did not even mention Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and took an implacably steady-as-it-goes
tone on China’s economic outlook. The implicit message appeared to be that China could
weather the turbulence in Europe, and would focus on trying to keep the Chinese population at
home contented and employed before the important 20th Party Congress later this year. Li
Keqiang said, “In our work this year, we must make economic stability our top priority and
pursue progress while ensuring stability.” Proposing an increase in the annual defence budget
of by 7.1 per cent to 1.45 trillion yuan (US$ 230 billion) up from last year's US$ 209 billion he
also called for deepening comprehensive combat readiness from the People's Liberation Army
(PLA) and said the PLA needs to carry out military struggles in a resolute and flexible manner
to defend the country's sovereignty, security, and development interests. He added that last year
China made major strides in strengthening national defence and the armed forces, getting off
to a good start in this endeavour in the 14th Five-Year Plan period. This year, he said, 'we will
fully implement Xi Jinping's thinking on strengthening the armed forces and the military
strategy for the new era, work toward the goals for the centenary of the People's Liberation
Army in 2027, and strengthen Party leadership and Party building in all aspects of the military.
We will enhance military training and combat readiness, stay firm and flexible in carrying out
military struggle, and safeguard China's sovereignty, security, and development interests. We
will move faster to modernise the military's logistics and asset management systems, and build
a modern weaponry and equipment management system.
(Comment: China is the second-biggest spender on defence after the US whose defence budget
was over US$ 600 billion. Last year, China's defence spending for the first time crossed US$ 200 billion. In 2021, the defence budget grew by 6.8 per cent to USD 209 billion. China's
defence budget is three times that of India which is approx. US$ 70 billion.)
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