China unveils five-year plan to ‘dominate’ AI, tech race; hikes its defence budget by 7%
China on Thursday unveiled major development targets in its five-year plan for the 2026-2030 period as a government work report was submitted to the country’s top legislature for deliberation.
Hike in defence budget
At the opening of the annual parliament meeting, Premier Li Qiang praised China’s ability to withstand US President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes, but said “multilateralism and free trade are under severe threat,” and announced 10 per cent increases in the defence budget, as well as in research and development.
