China’s defense budget poses ‘no threat’ to any country

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - China on Monday defended its defense spending, saying it poses “no threat” to any country, media reports said.

According to the Press Trust of India, an Indian news agency, Zhang Yesui, spokesman for the National People's Congress, told reporters in Beijing that the country’s defense spending is still less compared to military expenditure of other “major developing countries”.

China is world's second largest military spender after the U.S.

“Whether a country is a military threat to others or not is not determined by its increase in defense expenditure, but by the foreign and national defense policies it adopts,” Zhang was quoted as saying by the agency.

In 2018, Beijing had increased its defense budget by 8.1 per cent, taking its defense spending to a whopping $175 billion.

“Compared with other countries, China's defense budget accounted 1.3 per cent of the GDP. Major developing countries spent two percent GDP on their defense,” Zhang added.

According to Beijing-based news service ECNS, Zhang said Chinese and U.S. interests are inter-woven and confrontation does not benefit anyone.

“China remains committed as always to peaceful path of development and we pursue a defensive national defense policy. China's limited defense spending is for safeguarding the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of the country. It is not a threat to other countries,” he added.