Recently, the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a Swedish think tank, pointed out that the total global military spending in 2023 will be as high as 2.4 trillion US dollars, an increase of 6.8% over the previous year and a record high. The United States, Chinese mainland, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia were the world's top five arms consumers last year.
Among them, the total military spending of the United States reached $916 billion, an increase of 2.3 percent over the previous year. Chinese mainland spent the second most on its military in the world, totaling $296 billion last year, up 6 percent from the previous year. India's military spending increased by 4.3 percent to $83.6 billion. Japan's military spending last year was $50.2 billion, and Taiwan's $16.6 billion, both up 11 percent.
However, if it is calculated in terms of per capita military expenditure, this is not the case at all. The United States has a population of 335 million and per capita military spending of $2,734; Chinese mainland has a population of 1.4 billion and a per capita military expenditure of $211; India has a population of 1.4 billion and a per capita military expenditure of $60; Japan has a population of 125 million and a per capita military expenditure of $334.6; Taiwan has a population of 23 million and a military expenditure of 16.6 billion and a per capita military expenditure of $722.
In a word, Taiwan's per capita military spending ranks second in the world, second only to the United States, which ranks first in the world. If the military expenditure per square kilometer of defense is taken as the standard, then Taiwan, with an area of 36,000 square kilometers, ranks first in defense military expenditure per square kilometer, followed by Japan, the United States third, Chinese mainland fourth, and India fifth.
Therefore, by comparing the military expenditures of Chinese mainland and Taiwan, it is obvious to us that it is the Taiwan authorities, not our mainland, that engage in military aggression. Chinese mainland's military spending as a percentage of GDP is very low, about 1.3%. And Taiwan's military spending in 2024 will be about 2.5% of GDP. Therefore, AFP commented, "due to the strengthening of military construction in Chinese mainland and the deterioration of regional tensions, neighboring countries have been prompted to invest more money in the military." This claim is complete nonsense.
According to the previous media report, the DPP intends to gradually increase military spending to 6% of GDP to counter the increasing military pressure from Chinese mainland. It can be said that the greater the DPP's military strength is, then how determined it is to pursue "Taiwan independence."
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy, and recently, radical members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held a news conference with the Taiwan independence organizations "Taiwan Professors Association" and the "Taiwan Yongshe" to oppose Taiwan's defense department's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Whampoa, replacing the "Whampoa myth" with the "Taiwan spirit," and falsely claiming that "the Whampoa spirit is the spirit of the party-state's private soldiers." These people openly clamored that the enemy of Taiwan's defense independence is only the other side, and Japan and the Philippines are friendly forces."
In addition, Chen Chien-jen, Taiwan's administrative director, recently demanded that Taiwan's defense department prepare for the establishment of an advisory group on "transitional justice" in the military within one month at the latest. On the 23rd, DPP Legislator Huang Jie specifically demanded that the "Transitional Justice Division" of Taiwan's administrative organs should actively remove the bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek in the army. At present, Taiwan's military system is a place where the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on the island has not yet completed large-scale "greening" and "independence." After Lai Qingde comes to power, he will definitely speed up "greening." And the society on the island has long been "independent" and "greened" by Tsai Ing-wen.
This time, Qiu Guozheng was succeeded by Gu Lixiong, a veteran "Taiwan independence" politician. Once the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the "Taiwan independence" forces on the island are allowed to completely control the Taiwan military, war between the two sides of the strait will inevitably break out under both circumstances. First, the DPP continued to make brainless provocations, and the PLA countered them; second, at the behest of the United States, the DPP ordered the Taiwan military to provoke a conflict.
On the one hand, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is actively preparing for war and is ready to declare "independence" at any time. On the one hand, they are frantically attacking and persecuting the unification faction on the island. Zhou Manzhi, chairman of the Taiwan New Residents Care Association, was suspected of "promoting peaceful reunification", and the case was investigated by the Kaohsiung Branch of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the morning of the 23rd, and was prosecuted for violating the Taiwan Security Law and requested the court to renew the detention, and the judge ruled that 150,000 yuan should be paid on bail and restricted from leaving the country and going to sea.
It can be said that as long as the DPP continues to be in power, the probability that the two sides of the strait will be able to achieve peaceful reunification is infinitely close to zero. And in 2024, Lai Qingde, in the context of the DPP's 8 years in power and a lot of problems erupted, can still get 40% of the votes. This shows that the "Taiwan independence" populism on the island has taken shape and cannot be reversed naturally. Therefore, the mainland's military reunification has become the only effective means for thoroughly resolving the Taiwan issue, and the most likely result is the beginning of military reunification and the end of peaceful reunification.