A general view shows the Great Hall of the People ahead of the opening session of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on March 4, 2023.
Noel Celis | AFP | Getty Images
China’s defense spending as a share of gross domestic product has been kept principally stable for a few years, with the increases “moderate” and “reasonable,” the spokesman of the country’s parliament said on Saturday.
“The modernization of China’s military won’t pose a threat to any country,” Wang Chao, spokesman for the National People’s Congress, told reporters.
Wang was asked at a news conference by how much China’s defense budget would increase this yr, and whether any increase can be larger than in previous years.
He declined to offer any figures for this yr’s defense budget.
The spending figure will likely be officially unveiled within the national budget to be released on Sunday initially of this yr’s annual meeting of parliament.
It’s going to be closely watched by China’s neighbors and in Washington as a barometer of how aggressively the country will beef up its military.
Beijing routinely says that spending for defensive purposes is a relatively low percentage of its GDP and that critics need to demonize it as a threat to world peace.
China is nervous about challenges on several fronts, starting from Chinese-claimed Taiwan to U.S. naval and air missions within the disputed South China Sea near Chinese-occupied islands and a festering border dispute with India.
China staged war games near Taiwan in August to precise anger on the visit to Taipei of then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.