Defence: Finance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what percentage of the Defence budget is spent on products from or companies operating out of China.
Answered by Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence welcomes foreign trade where it allows us to provide our Armed Forces with the equipment they require, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements and does not compromise our national security.
For Financial Year 2024-25 (using latest published regional figures) MOD spent £4.3 million with Chinese industry. This accounted for 0.1% of overseas spend, and less than 0.02% of global spend that year. These percentages stand for each year from 2019-20 to 2024-25.
The MOD is directing an increasing proportion of its expenditure towards UK industry, helping to strengthen sovereign capability, support economic growth and enhance the resilience of defence supply chains. Spending with Chinese companies remains a very small residual element of MOD expenditure.
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