➤ China spends $182 per person per year on defence. Indian per capita spending on defence is less than one-third: $52 per person.
➤ Even though India has been spending more than China on defence as a percentage of government spending — 8.8% compared to 5.4% by China — Chinese defence spending completely dwarfs India’s in real terms because China’s economy is much larger.
➤ China, in 2019, was estimated by SIPRI to have spent $261 billion on defence, more than three-and-a-half times India’s estimated $71 billion.
➤ In the last 10 years, Chinese military spending more than doubled, from $115.7 billion in 2010 to $261 billion in 2019.
➤ Indian military spending, on the other hand, is estimated to have gone up only by half from $46 billion in 2010.
➤ Second, though India’s defence budget gets the highest allocation of all ministries, much of it goes into wages.
➤ This year the defence ministry will be spending almost as much on pensions (28.4%) as on salaries (30.2%).
➤ Third, China’s increased military spending is part of a clear strategic ramp-up.
➤ The PLA was not a modern force until a decade ago.
➤ Xi Jinping termed the problems with the Chinese military as the ‘Five Incapables’ and publicly set a target in 2012 to turn the PLA into a “world class force” by 2030.
➤ Since then, China not only downsized its Army personnel by 300,000, it reorganised the army, navy and air force into five integrated “theatre commands” for greater battle efficiency.
➤ In contrast, India’s army (7), navy (3) and air force (7) operate a total of 19 commands, all separately managed by each service (except two joint commands).
➤ Fourth, there is a weapons gap. The Indian Navy is deployed on the eastern seaboard but has only 16 submarines, compared to China’s 74. Indian Air Force has 538 combat aircraft, China’s has 1,232. India has 8,686 armoured vehicles, the Chinese over 30,000.
➤ India and China will hold talks every week in the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) meeting to discuss the ongoing aggression by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the Eastern Ladakh sector and find ways for de-escalating the tensions there.
➤ "It has been agreed upon that the WMCC meeting would be held every week to discuss the issue of Chinese aggression in Eastern Ladakh.
➤ The Indian side in the talks includes representatives of multiple ministries including the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs and security forces in it," government sources said here.
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