Beijing:
On Tuesday, China indicated to increase its defense budget, saying that peace and sovereignty can only be ‘protected from strength’. China will present its defense expenditure details on Wednesday, which is a part of the main budget presented by Prime Minister Li Kiang in Parliament (National People’s Congress).
Last year, China increased its defense budget by 7.2 percent to about 232 billion US dollars (1.67 trillion yuan), which is more than three times the budget of India. China is continuing the work of modernizing all its armed forces on a large scale.
Chinese defense budget data is seen in view of doubt in view of the large -scale military modernization, including the construction of aircraft carriers, the rapid construction of advanced naval ships and modern stealth aircraft.
Defending the expenditure, National People’s Congress (NPC) spokesperson Lu Kinjian told the media here that strength is necessary to protect peace.
He said that with strong national defense capabilities, China can better protect its sovereignty, safety and development related interests, can better fulfill its international responsibilities as a major country and protect world peace and stability.
He said that China’s defense expenditure as a percentage of GDP is below the global average. Since the year 2016, China’s annual defense spending has been increasing in single digestion for nine consecutive years.
He said that China’s defense spending has been less than one and a half percent for the last several years as part of GDP.