China’s 2022 Military Spending Reaches $710 Billion, Over Triple What Beijing Announced

 China's communist regime spent $710.6 billion on its military in 2022, more than three times Beijing's publicly stated totals, according to a report from the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute.

Beijing's self-reported military spending should also include the money that it spent on its paramilitary organizations, Ms. Eaglen wrote, since these groups "Are increasingly used in tandem with" the regime's military, which is officially called the People's Liberation Army.

China likely spent more than $1.8 billion on continued construction of military facilities in the South China Sea and arms imports, according to the report.

A portion of the $711 billion spending also included military research and development expenditures, which Ms. Eaglen estimated to be $45.8 billion.

"If fully evaluated, Beijing's expenditures via military-civil fusion and dual-use technology investments prove even the much larger $711 billion figure underestimates China's military investments," the report reads.

"Meanwhile, each yuan China invests in its military directly builds its regional combat power in Asia." Ms. Eaglen said her report aims to shed light on what U.S. intelligence revealed in 2023.

"The U.S. military cannot expect to keep up if it does not know how fast China's military is moving."

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