ISLAMABAD – Global spending on defense rose by 4% in 2019, the largestgrowth in 10 years, led by big increases from the US and China, a studysaid Friday.
Beijing’s military modernization program — which includes developing newhard-to-detect hypersonic missiles — is alarming Washington and helpingdrive US defense spending, the International Institute for StrategicStudies (IISS) said.
The IISS’s annual “Military Balance” report said the increase alone in USspending from 2018 to 2019 — $53.4 billion — was almost as big asBritain’s entire defense budget.
Both China and the US increased spending by 6.6 percent, the report said,while Europe — driven by ongoing concerns about Russia — stepped up by4.2 percent.
But this growth only brought European defense spending back to levels seenin 2008, before the global financial crisis saw budgets slashed.
European NATO members have been seeking to increase spending to placatePresident Donald Trump, who has repeatedly accused them of freeloading onthe US.
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Trump has railed at European allies, particularly Germany, for not livingup to a 2014 NATO pledge to spend two percent of GDP on defense.
The mercurial president’s anger over spending has fueled concern about hiscommitment to the transatlantic alliance, culminating in an explosive 2018summit where he launched a blistering public attack on Germany in atelevised meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
(Source: AFP)
