China plans to greatly increase its defense spending. Against the background of tensions with the USA, India, Taiwan and the South China Sea, an increase of around seven percent is expected this year. The new military budget will be presented tomorrow at the start of the annual meeting of the Chinese People’s Congress.
The strong increase is justified, among other things, with the expected strong growth of the second largest economy this year and „serious military threats“ for China. „The expected increase of around seven percent reflects both Beijing’s ambitions and its concerns about the current international environment,“ said the expert Helena Lagarda from the MERICS China Institute in Berlin.
„Patriots for Hong Kong“
The session of the Chinese parliament will also discuss the new five-year plan for 2021-2025. By setting the course, China wants to make itself more economically and technologically independent from the rest of the world.
According to the Chinese state media, a “highlight” of the annual conference will be a planned electoral reform for Hong Kong, which will ensure that the Chinese special administrative region will be “governed only by patriots” in the future. Time and again, high-ranking politicians including President Xi Jinping had repeated this formula without giving details of how exactly the electoral law could be changed.
