LONDON and KEULEN, Germany – The build-up of the Chinese army is increasingly focusing on transporting forces to distant places, with new logistics capabilities coming online quickly, according to the London International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The assessment was included in the think tank’s Military Balance 2021 report, an annual collection of defense work around the world, released on 25 February. The focus on China’s growing logistics capabilities in the air and at sea comes after experts have long embraced Beijing. efforts to use modernized weapons aimed at turning the country into a superpower.
For example, ‘China’s naval support ships now number 12, compared to seven in 2015, while a larger number of Y-20 heavy transport means that the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] The Air Force has effectively doubled its heavy air transport fleet over the past four years, ”IISS researchers wrote in their report.
China maintains a military outpost in Djibouti, which is seen by Western analysts as an important part of the country’s power projection ambitions in the Indian Ocean.
Extensive onshore support infrastructure, combined with the logistics tail needed to support big leaps, means more long-range Chinese deployments are underway, IISS researcher Nick Childs said during an online news conference on Thursday.
The next important step, he added, would be China’s ability to set up a carrier strike group deployment to the Indian Ocean.
“It seems that Beijing wants to be at the forefront in the coastal areas, while China’s maritime paramilitary forces have taken the lead – and are using the facilities in the Chinese – occupied territories in the Spratly Islands as forward-thinking bases in the southern Chinese. See – The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has maintained an ‘over-the-horizon’ presence, ‘reads the IISS report.
Meanwhile, China continued its upward defense spending in 2020, albeit at a somewhat slower pace: 5.2 percent last year, compared to 5.9 percent in 2019, according to the brainstorm. Yet Beijing’s nominal increase of $ 12 billion in 2020 was more than the plus points in all other Asian countries (excluding Russia).
While Asia accounted for nearly 18 percent of total global defense spending a decade ago, it has risen to 25 percent, IISS figures showed.
Global defense spending was $ 1.83 trillion last year, an increase of 3.9 percent over 2019 and a new high despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to IISS analysts.
European countries kept their military spending going in 2020, adding 2 percent over the previous year. The largest expenditures on the continent were the United Kingdom with $ 61.5 billion, France with $ 55 billion, Germany with $ 51.3 billion and Italy with $ 29.3 billion.
“If these spending plans continue on their current route, Europe could be the region with the fastest growth in global defense spending by 2021,” the IISS analysts wrote.
The strong national UK budget figures for last year were strengthened at industry level on 25 February, when BAE Systems – the largest defense and security company in Europe – reported a good performance for 2020, with revenue, revenue and earnings comparisons compared to the previous year. , despite the challenges of COVID-19.
But the trend has not assured me in any way, said Fenella McGerty, a senior fellow in defense economics at IISS. She said the full economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic has yet to materialize as governments continue to draw up their budgets for future years.
For the time being, money spent on defense in Europe has largely been allocated to pre-pandemic programs, McGerty said. It appears that governments want consensus to avoid large – scale cuts, as in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
“The pandemic will affect global defense spending, although it is likely to last until 2022-2023 before the full financial impact of the government’s responses begins to translate into defense budget cuts,” said John Chapman, director general of the think tank. , said.
McGerty added: “The pursuit of sobriety, to reduce spending, cannot be ignored.”