Proposed defense budget calls for 7.2 percent rise in spending

The Chinese government has proposed defense spending of 1.78 trillion yuan ($246 billion) for fiscal 2025, 7.2 percent more than last year, according to a draft budget report submitted to the national legislature on Wednesday.

If approved by lawmakers, the proposed expenditure will maintain single-digit growth for the 10th year in a row, and the percentage increase will be identical to the increases of the previous two fiscal years.

The figures were included in a report prepared by the Ministry of Finance and distributed to lawmakers at the opening meeting of the third session of the 14th National People's Congress in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

At the NPC session last year the central government proposed defense spending of 1.67 trillion yuan for fiscal 2024; defense spending proposed in 2023 was 1.55 trillion yuan.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Lou Qinjian, spokesman for the third session of the 14th NPC, said military strength is essential to the country and good for the world.

"Peace requires strength to safeguard. A China with strong national defense capabilities can better defend its national sovereignty, security and development interests, more effectively fulfill its international responsibilities as a major country, and better maintain global peace and stability," Lou said.

China's spending on defense as a proportion of GDP has remained below 1.5 percent for many years, lower than the world average, Lou said.

The world's biggest military spender is the United States, whose proposed military spending for 2025 is $850 billion. A large proportion of that spending would be used against China, according to the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2025, which lists China as an "adversarial nation".