China’s national military budget is approaching U.S. levels. But Beijing’s spending on measures to control its citizens totals 7 percent higher than defense as of 2020, according to a report from Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asia late last month.
The report says that in 2020, China spent up to $210 billion on controlling what it calls domestic stability.
A China affairs analyst says the Chinese communist regime has been investing hugely in the area for a decade and that this portion of its budget started to exceed its defense spending as early as 2009.