China Increases defence spending by 7.1 percent

www.dailymail.co.uk...

China announced it will boost its military budget by nearly $230 billion this year amid concerns it will launch an invasion of Taiwan.

The money is set to 'boost combat preparedness and enhance military capabilities,' claimed Premier Li Keqiang ahead of a draft budget presented to the National People's Congress in Beijing.

It means China's military spending will grow at its fastest pace in four years and take up a larger share of its economy, marking the reversal of a two-decade trend which has seen the nation prioritize growth over its military capabilities.

Meanwhile the UK is planning to cut its troop numbers to 73,000 and the government is currently resisting increasing our defence spending derpite inflation being above 10% for the last year. In my view the UK can no longer be relied upon to be a reliable NATO partner and it certainly couldn't defend its own borders in the event of an attack from RRussia or China without the help of allies like the USA.

a reply to: LeeMich83

lol '...amid concerns...' they bluntly said that's the purpose or reason '...one blood one country...' they say.

US and others should be get ready to detect and shoot down
Chinese balloons , i think their plan is to use high altitude balloons as drone swarms launch platforms .

a reply to: LeeMich83

In my view the UK can no longer be relied upon to be a reliable NATO partner and it certainly couldn't defend its own borders in the event of an attack from RRussia or China without the help of allies like the USA.

Biden is depleting our ability to defend our nation as fast as he can, so I wouldn't count on the US for any help. Maybe Ukraine can share some of their vast accumulation of weapons ?

a reply to: LeeMich83
" In my view the UK can no longer be relied upon to be a reliable NATO partner and it certainly couldn't defend its own borders in the event of an attack from RRussia or China without the help of allies like the USA."

I doubt Russia or China would ever attack the UK using conventional means-maybe cyber attacks or nukes if things got mental.But yeah we would not do great against a massive conventional attack-So lucky we are in NATO and can invoke article 5 if we ever got attacked.

On NATO-we are the second highest contributor at approx $73billion per year so I think we are being reliable there.

Look at this link-Even though our 73 billion is far more than most other members contribute,that sum is still dwarfed by the now 1 Trillion the US contributes per year.
www.visualcapitalist.com...

Chinas military spending increase sounds big,but remember that is loose change down the back of the sofa in comparison to US military spending(without even counting the trillion it spends on NATO).

China's actual budget is quite a bit higher than that 230 Billion, technically speaking.

Info at 325 mark

That's only after China saw America increase it's military budget by 10% to almost a trillion dollars in 2023.

I think the UK is moving in the right direction. Just at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. The European economy is definitely feeling the brunt of this proxy war that's for sure. Did they think sanctioning Russia oil wouldn't hurt them?

All nations should strive to have the smallest military budget possible, and especially not to make military promises to a multi nation alliance built on the militaristic pursuit of natural resources.

That's all NATO really is. Is a military organization who's purpose is to secure/steal resources for sovereign nations for a global cabal of defense contractors, bureaucrats, and war criminals who claim allegiance to no nation or set of laws. Sprinkle in some fascist undertones and you got NATO. Something that needed to be disbanded at the end of the cold war. A relic of an era that no longer exists.

China is not our enemy. Neither is Russian, Iran, Syria, etc. Our own leaders in America and Europe are far more detrimental to our way of lives...

a reply to: JAY1980

The psychopathic world leaders are the problem. Most people just want to be left alone to raise their families in peace, regardless of what country you are from. The propaganda that each government’s news media unleashes on the people is the problem too. They spread the news that everyone is evil except for them, and we must kill them all. The weakest of minds will then pick up a gun, and shoot up all the wrong people.

originally posted by: JAY1980
That's only after China saw America increase it's military budget by 10% to almost a trillion dollars in 2023.

I think the UK is moving in the right direction. Just at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. The European economy is definitely feeling the brunt of this proxy war that's for sure. Did they think sanctioning Russia oil wouldn't hurt them?

All nations should strive to have the smallest military budget possible, and especially not to make military promises to a multi nation alliance built on the militaristic pursuit of natural resources.

That's all NATO really is. Is a military organization who's purpose is to secure/steal resources for sovereign nations for a global cabal of defense contractors, bureaucrats, and war criminals who claim allegiance to no nation or set of laws. Sprinkle in some fascist undertones and you got NATO. Something that needed to be disbanded at the end of the cold war. A relic of an era that no longer exists.

China is not our enemy. Neither is Russian, Iran, Syria, etc. Our own leaders in America and Europe are far more detrimental to our way of lives...

Everyone knows this. I'm sick of hearing this # and no one ever has ideas to solve it or does anything about it.

We deserve it if we don't do # about it