Two days ago, in the draft budget submitted at the second session of the National People's Congress, China's national defense budget for this year is 16,655400 million yuan, which is converted to 2313 US dollars500 million, an increase of 7 compared to the previous year2%。
From the perspective of historical data, from 2016 to the present, China's defense budget has grown by single digits for nine consecutive years, with an average annual growth rate of 72%。Although the defense budget has been growing over the years, the defense budget has remained at 1 percent of GDP in the past 10 years2% to 13%, while the world average is 26%。It can be said that the proportion of defense expenditures in our country as a proportion of fiscal expenditures is very small.
However, as soon as China's national defense budget was announced, those politicians in the West competed to "crusade", and slanderous words such as what intention to start a war and China's "belligerence" could be seen everywhere, which is probably also the "political correctness" they wanted!
From a global perspective, China's defense spending ranks second only to the United States. 1.6 trillion yuan is an astronomical amount for us ordinary people, but it is not enough to spread it out to 9.6 million square kilometers of national territory, 4.73 million square kilometers of territorial waters, and 2.3 million middle-class people. What's more, our defense budget is only a quarter of that of the United States, and if we really count it in terms of defense spending, the United States is the one who wants to start a war.
As a matter of fact, the bulk of China's national defense expenditure is used for the daily consumption of the army and military activities and the upgrading of advanced equipment, among which the various expenses of retired military cadres are also counted in the national defense expenditure.
Speaking of the best equipment, the new equipment "Fujian" ship, which we are familiar with, has a cost of more than 50 billion yuan alone, not to mention the fighter jets and frigates on the ship. We hope that China can have nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and we hope that there will be a few more Type 055 destroyers, all of which will require funds, so that our defense spending is also very "tight" in the modernization of the armed forces!
So why does the West "value" China more than the United States in defense spending?
Under the disparity of 4 times the funding, no matter how you look at it, the United States is more "deterrent"! However, more money doesn't necessarily mean the right place!
The U.S. military spending budget in 2024 is $886 billion, counting all kinds of messy matters such as maintenance equipment, military salaries and benefits, plus the U.S.'s military support for Ukraine and some countries, then the proportion of military spending on the purchase of new equipment is very low!
The United States has a low proportion of new equipment, but what is surprising is that their procurement of military equipment is very high!
The United States has developed an electric silent trolley with the aim of allowing a team of team members to carry more ** equipment without mechanized equipment. The R&D company says it can carry a weight of 220 kilograms, has a range of 49 kilometers, and can carry injured people if necessary. In fact, this is a trolley that we use more than a motor, people do not need to use force when pushing and pulling, as long as the direction is controlled, suitable for forests, mountainous complex environments, in general is a relatively good equipment. However, the unit price of the US military to report to the Ministry of Defense is 170,000 US dollars, equivalent to 1.2 million yuan. Later, a second-hand trolley was listed on ** for only $1,350. It's such a thing, the United States invested $800 million in research and development, and the unit price of production is $170,000, and the United States has a hand in spending money on strange places.
In fact, this is related to the national conditions of the United States, which is different from China, in which the military industrial enterprises in the United States are all private enterprises, and every member of the Congress is the "spokesperson" of the various military industrial enterprises. The bosses of the military industrial enterprises are businessmen, and of course businessmen only pursue profits, and if there is a demand, they will raise the standard, and if there is no demand, they will create war, and only by war can they "get richer and richer". Therefore, in its global strategic deployment, the United States must not only safeguard its own interests, but also enable military industrial enterprises to seek more benefits. Selling foreign goods, and squeezing military spending in the name of research equipment internally, American industrial enterprises have stabilized their "market" in this way.
With regard to the huge military spending of the United States, they have more places to "spend money", and this is also the reason why some US troops cry poverty.
On the other hand, we spend money on the real thing, which belongs to "spending small money and doing big things". U.S. industrial enterprises manufacture equipment to make money, while our military factories serve the development and interests of the country, and we don't have to "spend more money" like the United States. In addition, China's military development is to protect our country and interests, and now the Russian-Ukrainian war and the Red Sea blockade have put the world in a state of turmoil, and national defense strength is particularly important at this time.
We also believe that in an increasingly complex environment, the increase in the defense budget should also be increased, and I believe that the majority of our country is also willing to increase defense spending. We in China take the path of peaceful development, and China's strength is an important guarantee to protect our national interests from being infringed upon!