Xi Jinping Unveils $232 Billion Defence Budget as Global Tensions Rise
Regarding the defence budget, China’s official state media outlet Xinhua News Agency, quoting government officials, stated that adjusting the defence budget is a sovereign right of the country to meet its national security requirements. It added that China is maintaining a steady and measured increase in military spending to safeguard its sovereignty, security, and development interests in a rapidly changing global environment.
Amid growing global instability and rising security tensions, China announced on March 5 that it would increase its defence budget for 2026 by 7 percent. This rise is slightly lower than the 7.2 percent annual increase the country has maintained over the past three years. However, due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the announcement did not receive the usual level of international attention and publicity. In addition, recent geopolitical developments—including the weakening of political allies of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Venezuela and Iran—have influenced China’s security calculations and affected the steady supply of oil to Chinese refineries.
Regarding the defence budget, China’s official state media outlet Xinhua News Agency quoted officials as saying that adjusting the defence budget is a sovereign right aimed at meeting national security requirements. According to the statement, China intends to maintain a steady and moderate rise in military spending in order to safeguard its sovereignty, security, and development interests in a rapidly evolving global environment.
With the 7 percent increase, China’s military budget is expected to reach 1.91 trillion RMB (approximately 277 billion US dollars) in the coming year. The government has argued that its defence spending remains relatively low when measured against key indicators such as its share of gross domestic product, per-capita defence expenditure, and defence spending per military personnel.
The budget was presented in Beijing during the 14th session of the National People’s Congress, one of the two major meetings that make up the annual political gathering commonly known as the “Two Sessions.” The other meeting involves the more than 2,000-member Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Together, these sessions represent the most significant annual political event for the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
On the same day, members of the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police attended a meeting where they received instructions from the top military authority, the Central Military Commission. Observers noted that only two people were seated at the main table during the meeting—President Xi Jinping and Vice Chairman Zhang Shengmin.
When Xi Jinping became chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012, the body had eleven members. Today, only two remain: Xi himself and Zhang Shengmin. This dramatic reduction is largely the result of Xi’s extensive campaign to remove senior officials from the upper ranks of the military under what he describes as an anti-corruption drive. As part of this sweeping crackdown, two CMC members—Zhang Youxia and He Weidong—have recently been detained over unspecified allegations of misconduct.
With only two members left, the Central Military Commission faces challenges in functioning as originally intended. Critics argue that the body has effectively been hollowed out and is now dominated by Xi Jinping’s authority. Highlighting the scale of the purge within the military, the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that since 2022 Xi has removed 101 senior leaders from the People’s Liberation Army. In fact, of the 47 officers who either held the rank of PLA general in 2022 or were later promoted to the three-star rank, as many as 41 have either already been dismissed or are widely expected to be removed.