Chinese leader Xi Jinping has commanded the regime’s military to focus on “preparing for war,” as Beijing looks to make a splash in 2021—the year marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In the first order of the year, Xi instructed the forces to ratchet up military training. As chairman of the regime’s Central Military Commission (CMC), Xi is head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the CCP’s armed forces.
…In 2020, Beijing’s stated defense budget was $178 billion, roughly a quarter of U.S. defense spending that year, although experts estimate that the amount was much higher. According to a March 2020 report, the CCP’s military spending is 87 percent that of the United States’ defense budget.
