China has said it is “ready for war” with America as it raises defence spending and imposes retaliatory tariffs on US imports.
In a direct threat to Donald Trump, China’s representatives in America said: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight until the end.”
The US has hit China with 20 per cent tariffs in response to what the White House considers to be Chinese inaction over the flow of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, into America.
Beijing has responded by announcing plans to boost defence spending by 7.2 per cent and hit the US with reciprocal tariffs of 10 to 15 per cent on certain imports from March 10.
In combative statements online, China’s ministry of foreign affairs and US embassy warned Washington that “intimidation does not scare us” and criticised Mr Trump for linking tariffs to the fentanyl crisis.
The fiery language comes as China’s top legislature met for annual Two Sessions meetings in Beijing, where the plans to boost defence spending were revealed.
The rise in spending is equal to the jump last year and takes the official budget to roughly 1.78 trillion yuan (£190 billion), as China pursues the goal of Xi Jinping, its president, to build a modern military by 2027.
On Wednesday, Li Qiang, China’s premier, vowed there would be “all out efforts” to hit the target in his annual address to the legislature.
He said Beijing “will step up military training and combat readiness so as to firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and development interests”.
China has stoked alarm with increasingly aggressive moves in Asia and the Pacific – including recent live-fire drills off the Australian coast, military exercises close to Taiwan and Vietnam and confrontations with the Philippine coast guard in the South China Sea. Japan, South Korea and India have all criticised the projections of military might.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that China is developing a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which would be larger and more advanced than any vessel in its fleet, in an attempt to rival the US.
Although Beijing has the second-largest military budget in the world, it remains dwarfed by American spending – even accounting for Mr Trump’s plans to cut the US budget by eight per cent over the next five years.
The US military budget for 2025 stands at around $850 billion (£662 billion). Although the Pentagon says China spends more than it publicly declares – up to $450 billion, when items listed in other budgets are included – the official sum still represents less than two per cent of GDP, below Sir Keir Starmer’s proposed spend of 2.5 per cent.
