China's spending on diplomacy dips as US splurges

Beijing [China], December 13 : China is downsizing its diplomatic spending, even as it talks about the country's expanding ambitions on the world stage.
The budgetary trend coincides with increased spending by the U.S., its major rival, Statistics show China's spending on diplomacy last year dropped by 16.47 per cent to US$8.07 billion (NT$223.54 billion), according to Taiwan News.
Further, in the two years leading up to 2020, Beijing boosted spending by 12.26 per cent in 2018 and then a further 5.49 per cent in 2019. In contrast, US Congress has passed Biden's proposed increase for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) budgets by 10 per cent, bringing the total to US$58.5 billion.
Also, China's funding for the flagship global project the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is also drying up in recent times.
Further, investment in the project in 2020 was at its lowest point ever, with cancelled deals, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Chinese state's shrinking appetite for risky projects all contributing to the fall, according to Taiwan News.
Further, the intake of Chinese diplomats is also decreasing, with just 142 graduates recruited to the foreign ministry this year. Not since 2012 has the pool of newcomers been so low.
Meanwhile, the data points reveal the limits of the Chinese leadership's push to increase their country's global clout. The rhetoric of Chinese diplomats has been hardening in recent times amid a deteriorating geopolitical environment.