China announced on Sunday March 5 that its defense budget, the second in the world after that of the United States, will increase by 7.2% in 2023, a very slight acceleration compared to last year.
This growth rate, higher than in 2022 (it was +7.1%) was announced in a report by the Ministry of Finance published on the sidelines of the opening of the annual session of Parliament.
Beijing plans to spend 1.553.7 billion yuan ($225 billion) on its defense - still about three times less than Washington's budget.
Even if skepticism surrounds this figure, because no details are provided, its increase each year arouses the mistrust of neighboring countries of China having territorial disputes with it.
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The People's Liberation Army (PLA) claims to be purely "
defensive
", but also aims to assert China's claims of sovereignty over its neighbors and to train for a hypothetical invasion of Taiwan.
More than two million soldiers
The workforce has been greatly reduced over the past decade, as part of a campaign to modernize, professionalize and optimize expenditure.
The PLA now has 2,035,000 men and women, according to the British think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
A People's Liberation Army parade in 2019, Tiananmen Square.
GREG BAKER / AFP
They are divided in particular between the land (965,000), air (395,000) and maritime (260,000) forces or even the unit responsible for strategic missiles (120,000).
President Xi Jinping has called on the military to complete its modernization by 2035 and be "
world-class
" by 2050.
The world's third largest nuclear arsenal, on the rise
China has about 350 nuclear warheads, according to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) which date from 2022. This is far fewer than the United States (5,428) and Russia ( 5977), but more than the United Kingdom (225) or France (290), according to the same source.
Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles.
GREG BAKER / AFP
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The US Department of Defense, however, accused Beijing in November of wanting to increase its nuclear arsenal to 1,500 heads by 2035. Unlike the United States, China is committed to never taking the initiative in the use of nuclear weapons. nuclear weapon - unless it is itself the target.
Aircraft carrier
China has three aircraft carriers, of which only two are currently operational.
A third is currently being tested at sea. However, the take-off and landing of aircraft on these ships are complicated operations that require the training of many pilots - a very long process.
Opposite, the United States has, according to the IISS, 11 aircraft carriers, ships that are symbols par excellence of the illustration of power.
China's Liaoning aircraft carrier, the country's first Navy.
AFP
Bases abroad
China has only one military base abroad (in Djibouti), which it says is mainly intended for anti-piracy operations in the region.
The United States has hundreds of them around the world.
China's international military presence is limited, apart from UN peacekeeping missions.
Air Force
It is progressing rapidly, reinforced in particular by new fighters, such as the J-16 and especially the stealth J-20, planes whose annual production rates "have probably doubled" in the last three years, according to
the
IISS .
The Pentagon estimates in its report that China is “
quickly catching up with Western air forces
”.
A Chinese J-16 on parade.
STR / AFP
World's Largest Navy?
China is sometimes presented as the world's largest navy in terms of number of ships ahead of the United States.
But China's fleet relies mostly on smaller ship classes and is still a far cry from US power.
Part of the Chinese fleet on exercise.
ASIF HASSAN / AFP
'Intensify' army training
Since the 1980s, thanks to the strong increase in its GDP over the years, China has gradually financed the upgrading of its army.
"
Some units are among the best trained and equipped in the world, but others are still decades behind
," Niklas Swanström, director of the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, told AFP.
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Premier Li Keqiang called on Sunday to "
intensify
" army training as well as "
combat preparation
" and "
make innovations in strategic directions
".
Senior US officials have recently accused China of wanting to attack Taiwan, an island it claims, within a few years, or of managing a "
fleet
" of military balloons spying on the whole world.
The largest defense budgets in the world
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), the United States is by far the country with the highest military expenditure, with 801 billion dollars in 2021, according to the latest figures available.
Next in order are China (293), India (76.6), the United Kingdom (68.4), Russia (65.9) and France (56.6).