BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) – China’s 2026 defence spending will rise 7%, a copy of an official government report reviewed by Reuters showed on Thursday, slightly lower than the 2025 increase of 7.2% but roughly in line with rises over the last decade.
Regional military attaches and security analysts are closely watching the budget as China’s military modernisation effort continues apace and its deployments increase across East Asia amid regional tensions.
The on-going rise in spending also reflects President Xi Jinping’s goal of completing that modernisation by 2035, with China’s military developing new advanced missiles, ships, submarines and surveillance technologies.
The budget announcement comes amid an on-going corruption crackdown that was sparked by the highest-profile purge of upper military ranks in decades.
China’s two most senior generals have become ensnared in disciplinary investigations, with Zhang Youxia – a veteran military ally of Xi – placed under investigation in January and He Weidong expelled in October last year.
The International Institute of Strategic Studies said in a report last month that rises in Chinese military spending were consistently outpacing the rest of Asia amid a global surge in defence budgets.
China’s share of the total amount spent on the military in Asia grew to almost 44% in 2025, up from an average of 37% between 2010 and 2020, the report said.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Greg Torode; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Michael Perry)
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