China Spent $15.3 Billion on Pacific Military Exercises in 2023: Reuters

China spent approximately $15 billion, or 7 percent of its defense budget, on military exercises in the western region of the Pacific Ocean in 2023, according to Reuters. Internal research by Taiwan's military shows that Beijing has increased its military presence in the region amid rising tensions. China considers Taiwan as part of its territory and does not rule out using force to bring the island under its control, despite strong objections from Taiwan.

“This reveals their logic of resource allocation,” said a senior Taiwanese official summarizing the research. Both Washington and Beijing have significantly increased the scale of military exercises in Asia in recent years due to ongoing tensions, although China's exercises still lag behind in scale and complexity.

According to the study, direct comparisons of exercise costs are challenging. There is no data, for instance, on how much the U.S. spent on similar activities in 2023. However, the U.S. Department of Defense has proposed to allocate $9.9 billion next year for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, established to counter China's military growth.