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China spent $15.3 billion on Pacific exercises in 2023, internal Taiwan estimates show

The internal research by Taiwan's armed forces, reviewed by Reuters, offers a rare look into a slice of China's defence spending as Beijing has ramped up its military presence amid rising tensions in the region.

August 27, 2024 / 09:13 IST
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The First Island Chain is a collection of archipelagos running roughly from Indonesia in an arc northeast to Japan, encompassing the South China Sea and East China Sea.

China spent about $15 billion, or 7% of its defence budget, on exercises in the Western Pacific in 2023, according to a previously unpublished Taiwanese estimate, showing Beijing's investment in military activity around Taiwan and its neighbours.

The internal research by Taiwan's armed forces, reviewed by Reuters, offers a rare look into a slice of China's defence spending as Beijing has ramped up its military presence amid rising tensions in the region.

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China claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring the democratically governed island under its control despite Taiwan's strong objections. It is also locked in disputes with several countries over sovereignty of large parts of the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

"This reveals the logic of allocation of their resources," said a senior Taiwan official briefed on the research. "They are spending a huge amount of resources trying to gain control of the west of the First Island Chain." The official, and two other people briefed on the research, declined to be identified for this story because of the sensitivity of the matter.