TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s defense spending jumped by 24.2% in 2023 compared to the year prior, according to an annual global military report by London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) released on Tuesday (Feb. 13).

IISS’ Military Balance report also found that Chinese defense spending increased by 5.4% to US$219.5 billion (NT$6.89 trillion) in 2023, representing a 29th straight year of growth, according to Nikkei Asia. Meanwhile, Meia Nouwens, a senior fellow for Chinese security and defense policy at IISS, told Nikkei that Beijing is taking cues from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and preparing for a “protracted” war in the Indo-Pacific.

China has made moves recently to make it easier for reservists and veterans to return to their former units, in addition to giving the military access to civilian infrastructure and fuel stocks, which reflects how China believes an Indo-Pacific conflict would unfold, Nouwens said to Nikkei.

She said these changes suggest China may no longer see a potential conflict as being short and quick, but rather a protracted war of attrition.

The IISS report found that global defense spending in 2023 reached US$2.2 trillion, a 9% increase from the previous year, according to Time. The IISS said the main reasons for the increase were the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine and the increasingly strained relationship between the U.S. and China.

IISS found that across the U.S. and its allies Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, total defense budgets grew by around 7.4% from around US$984 billion to upwards of US$1.05 trillion between 2022 and 2023, per Time. The largest increase came from Taiwan, which boosted its defense budget by around US$3 billion.