China’s military boosted under Xi

China’s 2019 defence spending will rise by 7.5 percent to 1.19 trillion yuan, or $177.5 billion, compared with President Donald Trump’s request for $750 billion for the U.S. military budget

China’s publicly disclosed defence budget (¥ billions)* 

U.S. $750bn

China  $177.5bn

2019: U.S. military budget is 322% larger than China’s

519.1 583.6 650.3 720.2 808.2 886.9 954.0 1,044 1,107 1,190 

2012: Xi Jinping becomes general secretary of Chinese Communist Party

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

*Pentagon and global arms bodies estimate actual spending may be 40-50 percent higher than publicly disclosed amounts
----------------------------
Sources: Chinese government, Bloomberg, Reuters Picture: Associated Press © GRAPHIC NEWS