China Budgets 7.2% Rise in Military Spending


中国国防预算20多年来持续增长，体现了广泛的军事升级努力。中国国家主席习近平正继续推进其耗资巨大的军队现代化进程。


据美国估计，中国武装部队约有200万现役人员。

中国计划今年将军费支出增加7.2%，增幅与去年持平。中国国家主席习近平正继续推进其耗资巨大的军队现代化进程。 6park.com
China plans to boost its military spending by 7.2% this year, matching the pace of last year’s expansion as Chinese leader Xi Jinping stays the course on his expensive campaign to modernize the armed forces. 6park.com
    
中国国防预算20多年来持续增长，体现了广泛的军事升级努力，包括发展尖端新武器和网络能力，很大程度上着眼于挑战美国的力量，并最终使北京方面能够夺取对台湾的控制权。 6park.com
China’s more than 20 years of continuous increases in defense budgeting have featured a broad military upgrade effort to include sophisticated new weaponry and cyber capabilities, much of it focused on challenging U.S. power and ultimately positioning Beijing to wrest control of Taiwan. 6park.com
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根据年度全国人大会议周二开幕时发布的预算报告草案，今年的军费预算总额将达到约人民币1.67万亿元，相当于约2,320亿美元。 6park.com
Total military expenditure this year will reach roughly 1.67 trillion yuan, the equivalent of about $232 billion, according to a draft budget report issued Tuesday at the opening of the Chinese legislature’s annual session. 6park.com
   
在维持今年名义军费预算增幅的同时，中国政府还将今年经通胀调整后的国内生产总值(GDP)增长目标维持在5%左右。 6park.com
As it maintained plans for this year’s increase in military spending, set in nominal terms, Beijing also kept its target for this year’s expansion of gross domestic product at roughly 5% in inflation-adjusted terms. 6park.com
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经济学家称，随着经济增长放缓，中国今年的总体增长目标可能过于雄心勃勃。另一方面，中国政府的军费开支很可能被低估了，因为政府在其他方面的开支也会增强军力，比如今年科技部门预算增加10%。中国政府没有详细说明今年将如何分配国防预算，但表示去年国防支出完成预算的100%。 6park.com
China’s overall growth target for the year may be overly ambitious as the economy slows, economists say. Beijing’s figure for military spending, on the other hand, is likely an undercount since government expenditures elsewhere bolster the military, such as this year’s plans for a 10% increase in science and technology sectors. Beijing didn’t spell out how it would allocate money on defense this year, but said it spent 100% of last year’s national defense budget.


过去十年来，习近平带头开展了全面的军事现代化运动。

新加坡李光耀公共政策学院(Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy)高级研究员Drew Thompson说，军费开支和国内生产总值(GDP)目标象征着共产党面对国内挑战和外部威胁的决心和信心；中共在表明维持经济和国力稳步增长趋势的信心和期望。 6park.com
The military spending and gross-domestic-product targets are symbolic statements of “the Communist Party’s resolve and confidence to face domestic challenges and external threats,” said Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. “The party is signaling confidence and a desire to maintain the status quo trend of steady growth in the economy and China’s power.” 6park.com
    
根据斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究院(Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)的最新估计，2022年中国的军费开支为2,980亿美元，而华盛顿方面的军费开支约为8,120亿美元。根据该研究所的数据，中国的军费开支约占GDP的1.6%，而美国的这一比例为3.5%。 6park.com
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s latest estimates put Chinese military expenditures at $298 billion in 2022, compared with the roughly $812 billion that Washington spent. Those figures peg China’s military spending at about 1.6% of GDP, compared with 3.5% by the U.S., according to the institute. 6park.com
    
美国国防部在去年10月的一份报告中称，美国关注中国人民解放军的高超音速导弹研发和其他旨在抵御反制措施的举措，以及中国通过国产航母获得的更强空中力量投射能力，2022年国产航母使中国海军进入全球规模最大海军之列。美国还认为中国利用先进技术开展网络间谍活动和攻击威胁令人担忧。 6park.com
The U.S. has its eye on the People’s Liberation Army’s development of missiles that travel at hypersonic speeds and others designed to resist countermeasures, as well as China’s projection of air power, which was enhanced in 2022 when a domestically built aircraft carrier joined its navy, the world’s biggest, the Defense Department said in a report last October. The U.S. has also described as concerning China’s use of advanced technologies to mount cyber-enabled espionage and attack threats.  6park.com
    
华盛顿方面一直在敦促中国讨论核武器问题，因为越来越多的证据表明中国正在积极扩充其核武库。中国政府拒绝了这样的提议，事实上在一年多的时间里暂停了中美两国的军方接触。直到去年年底两国领导人在加州举行峰会后，此类对话才得以恢复。 6park.com
Washington has been urging China to discuss nuclear weapons, as evidence builds that Beijing is aggressively expanding its arsenal. Beijing has resisted such overtures, and in fact suspended military-to-military contact with the U.S. for more than a year. Such talks only resumed after a California summit of the two nations’ leaders late last year. 6park.com
    
过去十年来，习近平带头开展了全面的军事现代化运动，在升级军备的同时精简兵力，以打造一支更精干、更具战斗力的军队，据美国估计，目前中国约有200万现役军人。 6park.com
Xi has spearheaded the sweeping military modernization drive over the past decade, upgrading its armaments while trimming its ranks to forge a leaner and more capable fighting force—currently with about two million active personnel, according to U.S. estimates. 6park.com
    
华盛顿智库保卫民主基金会(Foundation for Defense of Democracies)中国项目高级主管Craig Singleton表示，上述预算反映了习近平的“全面国家安全”政策，即战略自主优先于经济增长。Singleton称，习近平显然认为，对安全的严格关注可以抵御中国当前经济挑战对其权力造成的任何威胁。 6park.com
The budget reflects Xi’s policy of “comprehensive national security” that gives priority to strategic autonomy over economic growth, said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank. “Xi clearly believes that a stringent focus on security can fend off any threats to his power stemming from China’s current economic challenges,” Singleton said. 6park.com
    
中国在全球各地的军事足迹不断扩大，包括在非洲国家吉布提(Djibouti)的一个基地，以及获得更多海军设施（比如在柬埔寨的一个此类设施）的准入，同时北京方面也展示了在天基定向能系统等方面的雄心。但是，中国主要的军事着眼点是控制民主自治岛屿台湾，习近平在去年11月的习拜会上直言不讳地告诉美国总统拜登(Joe Biden)，中国终将统一台湾。 6park.com
China’s growing military footprint around the world includes a base in the African nation Djibouti and access to more naval facilities like one in Cambodia. Beijing also has demonstrated ambitions in developing a range of other capabilities, like space-based directed-energy systems. But its primary military focus is gaining control of the democratically run island of Taiwan, which Xi bluntly told President Biden at their November summit will one day be unified with China. 6park.com
    
中国国务院总理李强在周二发表的年度工作报告中轻描淡写但铿锵有力地提到了台湾问题，该报告概述了中国政府未来一年的计划。 6park.com
Taiwan was lightly but forcefully mentioned in Premier Li Qiang’s annual work report delivered on Tuesday, which outlined the government’s plans for the coming year. 6park.com
   
李强说，我们将“推动两岸关系和平发展，坚定不移推进祖国统一大业，维护中华民族根本利益；深化两岸融合发展，增进两岸同胞福祉，同心共创民族复兴伟业”。 6park.com
“We will promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, be firm in advancing the cause of China’s reunification, and uphold the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation,” the premier said. “By advancing integrated cross-strait development, we will improve the well-being of Chinese people on both sides so that together, we can realize the glorious cause of national rejuvenation.”


中国在开发超高音速导弹方面进行了投资。

李强警告称，中国将“坚决反对‘台独’分裂和外来干涉”。这一措辞通常旨在警示美国不要支持台湾。 6park.com
Li warned that the country would “resolutely oppose separatist activities aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ and external interference,” terminology that typically aims to warn the U.S. from supporting the island. 6park.com
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在中国人大会议于周二开幕之际，美国第七舰队(U.S. Seventh Fleet)表示，已派遣一艘阿利·伯克导弹级驱逐舰芬恩号(USS John Finn)通过台湾海峡。这条海峡将中国大陆和台湾隔开，美国称该海峡不属于任何沿海国家的领海。中国主张台湾海峡完全在其领土之内，并认为这种航行具有挑衅性。 6park.com
As China’s legislative assembly opened on Tuesday, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said it sent an Arleigh-Burke guided-missile class destroyer, the USS John Finn, through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that it said “is beyond any coastal state’s territorial seas.” China asserts that the strait is wholly within its territory and considers such sailings as provocative.  6park.com
    
台湾方面称，中国军用喷气式飞机越来越多地探测其防空系统，包括在台湾1月份选举新总统时。 6park.com
Taiwan reports that Chinese military jets are increasingly probing its air-defense systems and pressuring the island, most noticeably during the island’s presidential election in January. 6park.com
   
虽然中国军事入侵台湾的前景是美国的一大担忧，但军事分析人士称，北京方面也可能寻求通过军事封锁来控制台湾。北京方面有时部署飞机和船只的方式似乎是在测试这种可能性。美国和中国的军队在中国周边海域和空中的正面对峙日益频繁，美国五角大楼多次表示，担心一次意外可能演变成更危险的局面。 6park.com
While the prospect of a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan is a major concern for the U.S., military analysts say Beijing could also seek to control the island by choking it off with a military blockade. Beijing has sometimes maneuvered planes and ships in ways that appear to test such possibilities. The U.S. and Chinese militaries increasingly come face to face on the seas and in the air around China’s periphery, and the Pentagon has repeatedly expressed concern that an accident could spiral into a more dangerous situation. 


12月，从台湾前线岛屿小金门岛的防登陆尖桩后面看到的台湾狮屿。

与此同时，中国和菲律宾（美国的条约盟国）的舰船不断发生近距离相遇，包括本周再次发生此类事件，双方都宣称对南中国海（中国称：南海）的部分海域拥有主权。南中国海是一个地缘政治的热点地区，中国在这里与美国和其他国家的对抗日益加剧。 6park.com
Meanwhile, ships from China and the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, have had continuous close encounters, including again this week, as each side asserts its sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea, a geopolitical hot spot where China is increasingly facing off against the U.S. and others. 6park.com
    
尽管中国在军事现代化方面做出了努力，但在过去的一年里，解放军和更广泛的国防机构受到了人事变动的冲击，引发了对中国军队战备状态和队伍腐败程度的质疑。 6park.com
Despite China’s military modernization efforts, the PLA and the broader defense establishment have been buffeted by a personnel shake-up in the past year, raising questions over the military’s combat readiness and the depth of corruption across its ranks. 6park.com
   
中国军方高层发生的原因不明、有时突如其来的变动包括国防部长被免职，以及九名解放军高级军官和三名军工企业高管被分别取消人大代表和政协委员资格。 6park.com
The unexplained and sometimes abrupt changes in China’s military brass included the removal of the defense minister, as well as the ejection of nine high-ranking PLA officers and three defense-industry executives from their respective roles as lawmakers and government advisers.  6park.com
    
例如，李尚福担任国防部长仅仅七个月后，于去年10月被解除职务。李尚福曾任一间卫星发射中心的主任，在担任国防部长之前，他还曾领导中国军方的装备研发和采购部门。 6park.com
Li Shangfu, for instance, was ousted as defense minister in October after seven months on the job. A former director of a satellite-launch facility, Li also headed the Chinese military’s equipment development and procurement department before taking up his most recent role. 6park.com
    
他的前任魏凤和在2018年至2023年期间担任国防部长，近几个月来已淡出公众视野。习近平和其他在任领导人上个月向已退休的党和国家领导人致以节日问候，而曾任火箭军司令员的魏凤和没有出现在官方名单上，中国政治观察人士说，这个迹象表明他遇到了麻烦。 6park.com
His predecessor, Wei Fenghe, who was defense minister from 2018 to 2023, meanwhile has dropped out of public view in recent months. A former Rocket Force commander, Wei didn’t appear in an official list of retired party and state leaders who received Lunar New Year well-wishes last month from Xi and other serving leaders—a sign, China politics watchers say, that he was in trouble. 6park.com
    
今年1月，中国全国人大披露，上述九名被取消人大代表资格的解放军军官都涉嫌“严重违纪违法”。这是官方对腐败的委婉说法。 6park.com
In January, China’s legislature disclosed that the nine removed PLA officers were all under suspicion for “serious violations of discipline and the law,” an official euphemism for corruption.  6park.com
    
其中包括两名原火箭军司令员、一名前空军司令员和一名曾领导海军在南中国海行动的将领。在这九名被军官中，有些曾参与武器采购，而这一领域长期以来一直被认为容易滋生腐败。 6park.com
Among them are two generals who previously commanded China’s strategic-missile force, a former air-force chief and an admiral who led naval forces operating in the South China Sea. Some of the nine removed officers have been involved in arms procurement, a field long seen as susceptible to corruption.