China Boosts Military Spending 7%, Cuts Economic Growth Target to 5%

China's defence budget growth is expected to slow to 7 per cent in 2026, according to a draft report submitted to the country's national legislature for review, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

It marks the 11th consecutive year of single-digit growth for China's defense budget. The percentage rise is lower than last year's 7.2 per cent increase and is the slowest increase since 2021, the state media said. The figure stayed at 7.2 per cent for 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The estimates were as per the government work reports submitted by Chinese Premier Li Qiang to the annual meeting of China's top legislature- the National People's Congress, which opened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this morning.

According to Global Times, China's defence spending remains comparatively modest across key relative indicators, including its share of GDP, per capita defence expenditure, and defence expenditure per military personnel.

China's President Xi Jinping and the Chinese leadership were present at the meeting,which is slated to go on for a week and will formally roll out the 15th Five-Year Plan for China.

The meeting comes ahead of the US President Donald Trump visit to China and meeting with Xi Jinping. Trump had last visited the country in 2017.

Incidentally, last month Xi had dismissed the Chinese military's most senior officer, Zhang Youxia. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, had removed three of its retired military generals- Han Weiguo, Gao Jin and Liu Lei, Xinhua reported on Monday. Liu Lei was the head of the military court of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA), the Chinese army.

Meanwhile, among the main targets of the Chinese government presented by Li in his work report includes a consumer price index increase of around 2 per cent, addition of 12 million new urban jobs and research and development spending to grow by 10 per cent.

According to the US Department of Defence's 2025 report to Congress on China's military, China's total defence spending in 2024 was probably approximately USD 304-USD 377 billion, or 32 per cent to 63 per cent higher than Beijing's announced budget of USD 231 billion.

In 2024, China announced its defence budget had increased by an inflation-adjusted 5.2 per cent, compared to 2023, to about USD 231 billion.

The report noted that economic forecasts predict China's economic growth rate will slow towards 3 per cent -4 per cent by 2030, from an average of almost 8 per cent annually during the last decade, which may constrain future defence budget growth.

- ANI