Is defence spending in China more important than a virus?                            

The Chinese government has announced that defence spending in 2020 will rise 6.6% from the 2019 figures. The new amount is 179 billion U.S. dollars.

Considering that the yearly increase in the previous budget of 2019 – 2018 was a strong 7,5%, one has a precise idea of the effort that China is making to modernise and develop its Armed Forces, still far away from the American military might.

However, in 2019 China’s GDP had a growth of 6.1 % and the economy was going well. While in 2020 Wuhan was the likely origin of the Coronavirus global tragedy, the GDP’s increase is around 3 per cent, and the whole Chinese society is shaken and in need of public support, like in the western world.

Does that enormous difference have a value of only 0,9 % in defence spending? Or perhaps the truth is that planes, ships and guns are, in China, far more important than COVID-19?

Ph: Alexander Ryabintsev / Shutterstock.com