Key takeaways: 

• Defense spending is positioned to grow by 7.1% to 1.45 trillion yuan ($230.16 billion) this year, China’s Ministry of Finance declared in a schedule released Saturday.
• That’s the quickest rate since 2019 when defense spending rose by 7.5%.
• The finance ministry stated that total central government payments for the general public budget would increase by 14.3% to 13.40 trillion yuan this year.

China will spend more on defense this year: 

According to the Ministry of Finance schedule released Saturday, China’s defense spending this year is positioned to boost at its most rapid rate since 2019.

According to official data, defense spending will climb by 7.1% to 1.45 trillion yuan ($230.16 billion) this year, quicker than the 6.8% growth in 2021 and 6.6% rise in 2020.

China’s defense spending increased by 7.5% in 2019 to 1.19 trillion yuan.

The finance ministry said that whole central government expenses for the general public funding are anticipated to ascend by 14.3% to 13.40 trillion yuan this year.

“We will move quickly to update the military’s logistics and asset management strategies and create a modern weaponry and equipment management system,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stated in a different annual government work report released Saturday, according to an official English-language version.

Li’s other military development and foreign policy information aligned with 2021. He said that “China will persist in following an independent foreign policy of peace.”

Li did not cite other significant nations in the government work report.

The total U.S. defense funding for 2022 comes in slightly under $770 billion, up 2% from the previous year.