The Ministry of National Defense Responds to Japanese Concerns Over China's Defense Spending
China's defense spending transparency responds to Japanese concerns, with budgets publicly disclosed and long reported to the United Nations See clearly the reasonableness and restraint of China's defense spending and Japan's military expansion trend, click to learn more
The Ministry of National Defense held its regular press briefing on June 25, and spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang responded to Japan's recent renewed questioning of the transparency of China's defense spending.
Zhang Xiaogang said that China publicly discloses the total budget, scale, structure, and uses of its defense spending in accordance with the law, and has long submitted military expenditure reports to the United Nations. Overall, defense expenditure has remained reasonable, moderate, and restrained, with its share of GDP staying below 1.5% for a long time.
He also pointed out that Japan's defense budget has continued to grow in recent years, with defense spending as a share of GDP having risen to 2%, and there are still moves to further increase it. The Chinese side believes that Japan is using its questioning of China's defense spending to shift outside attention, and in essence is covering up its own trend toward "remilitarization".