China Focus: New law to bring supervisory network against corruption
The growth target of "around 6.5 per cent" announced by Premier Li Keqiang to China's ceremonial legislature, little-changed from previous year, would be among the world's strongest if achieved.
China's "moderate" defense spending rises in the past few years have been to make up for past deficiencies and the country's military will not threaten anyone, a senior diplomat said on Sunday ahead of the release of the defense budget.
China's military spending, already the world's second-highest behind the United States, will rise 8.1 per cent to 1.1 trillion yuan ($173 billion) as Beijing prepares to launch its second aircraft carrier and develop stealth fighters and advanced missiles.
The defence budget increase has roughly kept pace with China's national economic output in recent years.
Heavy government infrastructure spending was a major driver behind China's forecast-beating growth past year, but Beijing has been cracking down in recent months on some rail and road projects launched by local governments as it seeks to curb their massive debts.
"We have completed the task of reducing the armed by 300,000 troops", Li said at the opening session of the NPC.
The above targets take into consideration the need to secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and are fitting given the fact that China's economy is transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development, Li said.
However, China's publicly announced defense spending has never been accurate since it omits a significant amount of "off-book" expenditures on defense equipment projects, said Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed the largest military budget since 2011, focused on beefing up the United States' nuclear defences and countering the growing strength of China and Russian Federation.
The 2018 defence spending increase comes as China's economy expanded 6.9 percent a year ago, the first annual growth pick-up since 2010.
"We would like to see China be more transparent about its defence policy, including spending and the direction of its military power", Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told a regular briefing.
To encourage imports, China will host the first China International Import Expo this year and lower import tariffs on products including automobiles and some everyday consumer goods, said Li.
China announced a 8.1 per cent hike in its defence expenditure for this year to a whopping United States dollars 175 billion, which is over three times higher than India's defence budget.
Zhang described the steady increase of China's defence budget as "modest".
"[While] a great power war is not inevitable, states are systematically preparing for the possibility of conflict", he said, adding that China's "land and naval forces are modernizing and progress in defense aerospace remains remarkable".
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