Could China Be Spending More on Stamping Out Dissent Than Funding Its Military?

A petitioner is detained by police outside the Chaoyang Hospital where a group of people are protesting about medical and land grab issues in Beijing on May 8, 2012. MARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages

The Chinese Communist Party is playing a numbers game.

On March 5, China’s Ministry of Finance unveiled the country’s 2018 budget. China’s military spending would get an 8.1 percent boost to 1.107 trillion yuan (about $175 billion), while “public safety expenditures” will grow 5.5 percent to over 191.91 billion yuan ($30 billion).