Big worry for India, US as China signals major hike in defence budget

Beijing: In a worrying piece of news for India, the United States (US) and neighbouring countries, China on Saturday signalled at increasing its defence budget. China’s defence budget is already the second biggest in the world after the US. The Chinese government has cited “complex security challenges” ahead of China’s annual Parliament session during which a new ministerial and official leadership is scheduled to be unveiled. A successor to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang may also be announced. The annual season of China’s Parliament started on Saturday with the opening meeting of the top advisory body the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The national legislature of China, the National People’s Congress (NPC), will start its annual session on Sunday. More than 5,000 deputies and advisors will take part in the two sessions which are scheduled to last for over a week. During this period, the communist government of China will formally unveil a new ministerial and top official leadership. Li Keqiang, who will go into retirement, is expected to be succeeded as China’s premier by Li Qiang, a loyalist of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Except for China’s President Xi Jinping, all top officials will be replaced as part of the practice of changing the leadership of the Chinese government every 10 years. Xi Jinping, who is regarded as the most powerful Chinese leader holding the key posts of head of China’s ruling communist party, the military and the Presidency, has been elected for an unprecedented third five-year term. This has put him in power much beyond the 10-year tenure followed by previous presidents of China. Ahead of the NPC session, Wang Chao, the spokesman of the Chinese communist party, signalled an increase in the defence budget of China, which stood at $230 billion last year after a 7.1 per cent hike, which was the second largest in the world after the US defence budget of $777.1 billion. Wang, who declined to disclose this year’s amount, said this year’s Chinese defence budget will be formally revealed at the NPC on Sunday. He defended the steady increases in annual defence budgets implemented by China, saying that defence spending as a share of the Chinese DP was lower than the global average. China’s defence budget last year was more than three times that of India’s defence budget which was around $70 billion. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.