How population ageing drives up China’s military spending: A securitization framework analysis

作者：Jiachen Shi · 发表于：China Information · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1177/0920203x241300395 · 研究领域：Global Security and Public Health、Defense, Military, and Policy Studies、HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses

Population ageing has long been perceived as a domestic socioeconomic issue that places a growing burden on government budgets. This has led to a prevailing argument in the literature that ageing-induced financial strain would consequently lead to a crowding-out effect on military expenditures. However, this article challenges the notion by arguing that population ageing in China is securitized by the government as a threat to national security on three dimensions: military, regime, and structural security. As a result, population ageing eventually exerts a crowding-in effect on military spending in China. To explore this mechanism, this article departs from a ‘butter-versus-guns’ paradigm and instead adopts a security framework, using primarily Chinese-language sources to explore the impact of population ageing on active-duty personnel, demobilized servicemen, and prospective soldiers.