The United States on Monday proposed an allocation of USD 1.8 billion to ensure the security of the Indo-Pacific region for conducting open trade as well as freedom of navigation. It also proposed USD 400 million to counter China’s malign influence in the said region.
These proposals were part of the USD 773 billion budget for the Department of Defence (DOD) put forward by the White House for the approval of the US Congress for the year 2023.
“In the Indo-Pacific, America is strengthening its role and expanding its cooperation with longtime allies and partners, including new diplomatic, defence and security, critical and emerging technology and supply chain, and climate and global health initiatives, while supporting stronger ties between our European and Indo Pacific allies,” US President Biden said in a statement.
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The abovementioned allocations help in strengthening and promoting integrated deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region.
It also helps in modernizing the US’s alliances with partner countries in the region as well as reinforce Washington’s leadership in the field of strategic competition.
As per the budget statement, the DOD is investing in certain concepts, capabilities, and posture which are deemed compulsory to the existing challenges in the Indo-Pacific in addition to working in concert with the interagency and the US’s regional partners to ensure American deterrence is integrated across various theaters as well as spectrum of conflict.
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For the year 2021-22, the US budget for the Department of Defence was USD 753.5 billion.
Earlier in March 2022, China had announced that it will increase the defence budget by 7.1 percent this year. This resulted in China’s defence spending shooting up to USD230 billion in 2022-23 from USD209 billion in 2021-22.
This increased budget allocation signals towards mordernisation of the Chinese military as well as an arms and technology race with the United States.
This hike was the largest since the one proposed in 2019 when a 7.5 percent increase was put forward.
India’s annual defence budget for the year 2022-23 was USD 54 billion, excluding the provision of defence pensions.
