Defense spending to grow 7% in 2017
Print Edition
CHINA’S 2017 defense spending is budgeted to grow 7 percent.
Military expenditure will be 1.04 trillion yuan (US$152 billion), including 1.02 trillion yuan from the central budget, an official with the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The figures can be found in a draft national budget for 2017, which has been submitted to the current annual session of the National People’s Congress, the official said.
China’s budget law and the law on national defense require that defense budget every year be included in the draft report of government budget to be reviewed and approved by national lawmakers, the official explained.
The official told Xinhua that the military spending was in line with China’s economic development and defense needs.
“The majority of the defense budget will be spent on deepening national defense and military reforms, bolstering military and civilian integration, and improving the living, training and working conditions for service personnel at grass-roots levels,” the official said.
China’s defense budget growth this year is the slowest in at least a decade. The increase last year was 7.6 percent, breaking a multi-year run of double-digit growth.
Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the National People’s Congress annual session, said on Saturday that China’s defense budget would expand by “about 7 percent.”
She added that the defense spending accounted for only about 1.3 percent of the country’s GDP, in contrast with NATO members’ pledge to dedicate at least 2 percent to defense. Fu also pointed to the recent United States proposition to raise defense spending by 10 percent.
Last month, US President Donald Trump asked for a US$54 billion increase in America’s military spending in his first address to Congress after taking office.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in his government work report delivered on Sunday that the country would strengthen its maritime and air defense as well as border control amid efforts to safeguard its sovereignty and security.
The country would continue to deepen military reforms, while upholding the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China over the armed forces, Li said.
It would ensure the organization of key operations related to countering terrorism, safeguarding stability, international peacekeeping, and providing escort in high seas, Li added.
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