China's military strength positive for the world

Special: Two Sessions 2023

China's military power will not compromise the security of other countries, said a spokesperson for China's annual legislators' meeting.

"China's future is closely intertwined with that of the entire world. China's military modernization will not be a threat to any country. On the contrary, it will only be positive for safeguarding regional stability and world peace," Wang Chao, the spokesperson for the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, said at a news conference in Beijing on Saturday, one day ahead of the opening of the session.

He made the remarks when answering a question on China's defense budget.

Wang said defense spending is determined based on overall consideration of the need for defense ability and the economic development level, which is a common practice across the world.

"The increase in defense spending is needed for meeting the complex security challenges and for China to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country. China's defense spending, as a share of GDP, has stayed basically stable for many years and it is lower than the world average. An increase is appropriate and reasonable," the spokesman said.

At the NPC session last year, the Chinese government proposed a defense budget of 1.45 trillion yuan ($230 billion) for the 2022 fiscal year, a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase.

The world's largest spender on military affairs is the United States. Its defense budget for the fiscal year 2022 was $768.2 billion, accounting for almost 40 percent of the world's total.