China to spend 7.2% more on defence in 2025

BEIJING - China will set a 7.2 per cent hike in defence spending for 2025, in keeping with annual single-digit increases in the past decade, even as its economy is experiencing a slowdown.

The country’s 2025 official defence budget of 1.784 trillion yuan (S$328.3 billion) was revealed in the

Chinese government’s budget estimates

issued on March 5, at the opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC) annual meeting.

Thousands of delegates from China’s national Parliament and top political advisory body are meeting in Beijing this week as part of the country’s biggest political event of the year, called the Two Sessions.

Since 2016, China has mostly announced increases in the annual defence budget of about 7 per cent. It has the second-highest defence budget in the world, although it still spends far less than the US.

But the country’s slowing economy has raised questions about how much the military spending increases can be sustained, especially amid other competing domestic priorities such as boosting consumption, social insurance, and science and technology investment.

China aims to have a world-class fighting force by 2050, although international attention has focused on Beijing’s preparations to be capable of military action over Taiwan by 2027 – the 100th year of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The official PLA Daily on March 4 published a front-page article that quoted military officials taking part in the Two Sessions parliamentary meetings.

“Looking forward to 2027; the mission beckons,” read a line in the article.

There has also been scrutiny on corruption in the highest military ranks, after two former defence ministers were sacked from the Communist Party in 2024 over bribery and related charges amid an ongoing crackdown.

In response to a question by The Straits Times on whether slowing economic growth would affect military spending and modernisation, NPC spokesman Lou Qinjian reiterated that China’s defence spending has kept to single-digit growth for nine consecutive years.

He told reporters at a press conference in Beijing on March 4 that the share of defence spending in gross domestic product has also been kept at less than 1.5 per cent for many years, which is lower than the world average.

“The guarding of peace requires strength. A China with strong national defence can better defend its national sovereignty, security and development interests, better fulfil its international responsibilities and obligations as a great power, and maintain world peace and stability.”

China has continued to unveil high-end military capabilities.

It launched an amphibious assault ship in December 2024, gave the public a glimpse of

its fifth-generation fighter jet

in November 2024, and began sea trials for its third and most advanced aircraft carrier in May 2024.

Mr Zi Yang, an associate research fellow in the China Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told ST that not everything related to China’s defence is included in the official budget, with some researchers estimating it to be 1½ to two times the size of the official budget. 

“Spending on the People’s Armed Police, China Coast Guard, militias, foreign weapons procurement and the space programme is not included in the official defence budget. Therefore, the actual defence budget is likely a lot larger,” he said.

Assistant Professor Amrita Jash from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India told ST that a possible Taiwan contingency would remain a central focus of defence spending.

This will shape China’s defence spending priorities towards naval, air, missile, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence-driven platforms, said Prof Jash, whose research expertise includes the PLA.