China has substantially increased spending on domestic security, official figures show, reflecting mounting concern about threats inside its borders as President Xi Jinping moves to acquire more power and reassert the authority of the Communist Party.
Beijing's budgets for internal and external security have grown faster than the economy as a whole for several years, but domestic security spending has grown far faster - to where it exceeds the national defense budget by roughly 20%. Across China, domestic security accounted for 6. 1% of government spending in 2017, the Ministry of Finance said. That translates into 1. 24 trillion yuan ($196 billion) and compares with 1. 02 trillion yuan in central - government funding for the military.
The numbers, revealed in an annual budget report released this week, help illustrate the scale of a recent intensification of security and surveillance across China, particularly in Xinjiang and Tibet, minority - heavy areas on the country's periphery.
In Xinjiang the government has woven a web of surveillance, with checkpoints, high - definition cameras, facial scanners and street patrols; the region spent $9. 1 billion on domestic security in 2017, a 92% increase from 2016, according to local government budget data.
Source: Marketwatch