Daily Times

China’s annual defense budget will remain single-digit growth for the eighth year in a row, with an increase of 7.2 percent in 2023, according to a draft budget on Sunday. The world’s second largest economy’s planned defense spending will be 1.5537 trillion yuan (about 224.79 billion U.S. dollars) this year, read the report on the draft central and local budgets submitted to the ongoing session of China’s national legislature. The figure for last year was 7.1 percent. China’s military spending has long been at the center of Western scrutiny, and so-called “China threat” has been hyped up almost every year. However, the country’s defense budget is only about one-quarter of that of the United States, which amounted to some 858 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. In per-capita terms, China’s defense spending is only one-sixteenth of that of the United States. Describing China’s defense budget increase as “appropriate and reasonable,” Wang Chao, spokesperson for the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress, told reporters Saturday that the growth is needed for meeting complex security challenges and for China to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country. China pursues a national defense policy that is defensive in nature. It has stressed on multiple occasions that no mater how much defense expenditure is invested or how modernized its armed forces are, China will never seek hegemony, expansion, or sphere of influence. This is in stark contrast to the United States, which currently has about 800 overseas military bases, with 173,000 troops deployed in 159 countries. In recent years, the U.S. average annual military budget has accounted for over 40 percent of the world’s total, more than the 15 countries behind it combined. Noting that defense spending is determined based on the overall consideration of the need for defense building and the economic development level of a country, Wang Chao said China’s defense spending as a share of GDP, which is lower than the world average, has been kept basically stable for many years. China’s defense expenditure is open and transparent. According to China’s defense ministry, the country has been submitting reports on its military expenditures to the United Nations every year since 2008.