According to Kyodo News Agency Washington on April 9, the Biden administration proposed to provide $753 billion for the defense plan in fiscal year 2022 on Friday local time, an increase of 1.7% over the current fiscal year, as part of the efforts to ensure the military strength of China.
In the new fiscal year, the Biden administration has sought more than $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending in total, an increase of 8.4%, about half of which is spent on defense.
According to the report, the U.S. government said in the outline of the budget application that it was prioritizing “the need to deal with the ‘China threat’ while also preventing Russia from destabilizing behavior”.
In his first budget on Friday local time, AFP Washington asked Congress to allocate a total of $753 billion for defense and national security in the fiscal year 2022, starting October 1, according to a report in Washington on April 9. Of that $715 billion will be allocated to the Pentagon, up from $704 billion in fiscal year 2021. Compared with the substantial increase in defense spending under his predecessor Trump, this budget has only slightly increased.
Republican lawmakers immediately attacked the budget proposal, claiming that it weakened the U.S. military and called for an increase in the budget when China vigorously promoted defense construction.
According to the report, Biden’s budget proposal supports the expansion of the U.S. naval fleet for fear of being surpassed by rival China. Now, the U.S. Department of Defense believes that China is its primary challenge. Biden also proposed modernizing the U.S. nuclear weapons and upgrading the “Trinity” nuclear weapon delivery system – strategic bombers, strategic nuclear submarines and intercontinental ballistic missiles.\
The report also said that with the increasing attention of hypersonic missiles, artificial intelligence, microelectronics technology and self-driving vehicles, nearly 107 billion US dollars will be used for weapons and defense-related research and development, a record high.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the budget “will continue to improve combat readiness and fund a more lethal army for modernization and upgrading”.
In addition, according to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post website on April 10, President Biden’s upcoming budget seeks $715 billion for the Pentagon in the next fiscal year, in part to meet the “primary challenge” from China.
This proposal is the latest signal from the new U.S. government that it believes that competition with China is a top priority.
The White House said that the complete and detailed budget proposal will be announced “in the next few months”.
The 58-page summary includes spending for the U.S. Navy fleet, “ongoing nuclear modernization plan” and “strengthening existing long-range strike capabilities”, the report said. The outline also lists “development and testing of hypersonic strike capabilities” and “groundbreaking technologies that will promote innovation and support the development of next generation of defense capabilities”.
“With the Pacific Deterrence Program, in collaboration with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region and NATO, the Department of Defense will ensure that the United States builds the concepts, capabilities and postures necessary to address these challenges,” the summary states.
According to Reuters in Washington on April 9, the Biden administration’s proposed defense budget is only at about $715 billion, which is despised by people from both democratic and republican parties. Liberals who want to cut the defense budget and hawks who want to increase military spending to cope with China, Russia and Iran are unhappy with the budget.
Five senior Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, issued a joint statement warning that Biden’s plan sends “horrible messages” to America’s allies and opponents, and questions the Biden administration’s willingness to fight against China.
The report said that Representative Ro Connor, the main liberal Democrat on security issues, said that Biden’s request for increased military spending was “disappointing” and that there was a possibility of “wasteful spending” on missile projects.
According to a Russian News Agency Moscow on April 9, US President Biden asked Congress to allocate $715 billion to the Pentagon, one of the purposes of which is to contain China and Russia.
Russian politicians responded. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Zakharova said that Biden’s amount was the price paid for Russia and China. “To disrupt relations with Russia and China, it will require an additional $715 billion for U.S. taxpayers, which is when U.S. Treasury bonds have soared to $26.9 trillion in September 2020,” she wrote on Facebook.
According to the report, Djabarov, the first vice chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Federal Council (Upper House of Parliament), said that the United States’ expenses outweighed the losses. He stressed that even if this budget allocation is included, it is difficult for the United States to compete with China. It is also impossible to exert pressure on Russia by this means.
He said: “China is an absolutely autonomous and powerful country, and has achieved GDP growth even in the difficult period of the epidemic. As for us, this move also doesn’t work. They can’t contain us no matter how much they spend.”
Zhelezniak, a member of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament), believes that the White House should spend a lot of money on curbing Russia and China to fight the epidemic more effectively. He said that Biden could only create fears about possible aggression between Russia and China to justify this “crazy expenditure”.
