China says defense budget to rise to $173B in 2018

Military delegates arrive on buses near Tiananmen Gate with a giant portrait of Mao Zedong outside the Great Hall of the People on the eve of the annual legislature’s opening session in Beijing, Sunday, March 4, 2018. The spokesman for China’s ceremonial legislature says Sunday his country has no desire to overturn the existing international order and its increasingly powerful military is no threat to others. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING — China’s finance ministry has said the country’s 2018 defense budget will rise 8 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan ($173 billion).

The figure released in a report on Monday to the National People’s Congress is an increase from last year, when ministry officials told the Associated Press the budget was rising to 1.044 trillion yuan ($151 billion).

China’s defense budget is the world’s second largest, behind the United States.

China is preparing to launch its second aircraft carrier, integrating stealth fighters into its air force, and fielding an array of advanced missiles able to attack air and sea targets at vast distances.

On Sunday, Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for the legislature, said China’s defense spending as a share of GDP and the budget also remains lower than that of other major nations.                        /kga