In dollar terms, China spent USD 230 billion last year to modernise the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and now, announced a single-digit percentage point increase in its military budget for the eighth consecutive year

China increased its defence budget by 7.2 per cent, slightly higher than last year, to 1.55 trillion yuan (about USD 225 billion), marking the eighth consecutive year of increases in military spending amid global concern about the PLA's increasingly aggressive behaviour.

Last year, China's defence budget was 1.45 trillion yuan, a 7.1 per cent increase. Defence spending will be increased to 1.55 trillion yuan this year.

However, due to the strengthening of the dollar against the yuan, China's defence spending this year is expected to be around USD 225 billion, according to the state-run China Daily.

In dollar terms, China spent USD 230 billion last year to modernise the People's Liberation Army (PLA). China has announced a single-digit percentage point increase in its military budget for the eighth consecutive year.

Outgoing Premier Li Keqiang praised the armed forces' achievements at the borders in his work report to the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's rubber-stamp parliament, without directly mentioning the unresolved eastern Ladakh standoff with India.

"They conducted operations in a firm and flexible manner, and they effectively carried out major missions relating to border defence, maritime rights protection, counterterrorism and stability maintenance, disaster rescue and relief, Covid-19 response, peacekeeping, and merchant ship escorting," according to Li's work report.

The reference to "major border defence missions" was interpreted as significant in the context of offensive actions by the PLA in Eastern Ladakh in May 2020 along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, triggering a prolonged standoff that has effectively frozen relations between the two countries.