China News Service, March 9. According to the WeChat public account "Released by the Ministry of National Defense", on March 9, Wu Qian, spokesperson for the People's Liberation Army and Armed Police Force delegation at the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress, was interviewed by the media.
A reporter asked: According to reports, the United States, Japan, Germany and other major countries in the world have increased their defense expenditures in 2024.
Some analysts believe that due to the impact of geopolitical conflicts, the world is currently in a new round of rapid growth in military spending.
Please introduce China's defense budget arrangements and main considerations this year.
Wu Qian said that national defense is the security guarantee for the survival and development of a country and a nation and is closely related to the well-being of the people.
The Chinese government adheres to the policy of coordinated development of national defense construction and economic construction and reasonably determines the scale of national defense expenditure.
In recent years, in order to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests and adapt to the needs of military reforms with Chinese characteristics, the Chinese government has maintained a reasonable and stable growth in defense expenditures while maintaining sustained and healthy economic and social development, and promoted the simultaneous improvement of national defense and economic strength.
The world is far from peaceful, and the army must be strengthened.
The century-old changes in today's world are accelerating. International political disputes and military conflicts have broken out at many points. The domestic anti-separatist struggle situation is complex and severe. my country's security situation is increasingly unstable and uncertain. The military struggle tasks are arduous and onerous.
In order to ensure that the modernization process of national defense and the military is compatible with the national modernization process, comprehensively improve the strategic ability to defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and achieve the 100-year goal of the founding of the army as scheduled, the national general public budget in 2024 has arranged defense expenditures of 1.69 trillion yuan. , an increase of 7.2% over the previous year's implementation, of which: central-level expenditures were 1.67 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.2% over the previous year's implementation.
The increased defense expenditures are mainly used in the following aspects: First, promote the implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan" for military construction, ensure the implementation of major projects and key projects, comprehensively strengthen military training and preparations, and consolidate and improve the integrated national strategic system and capabilities.
The second is to accelerate the innovative development of national defense science and technology, promote modern logistics construction, implement major projects of national defense science and technology and weapons and equipment, and accelerate the transformation of science and technology into combat effectiveness.
The third is to deepen the reform of national defense and the military, build a modern military governance system, and improve modern military governance capabilities.
The fourth is to improve the training and preparation of troops and the working and living conditions of officers and soldiers, and improve the remuneration policy system that reflects the characteristics of the military profession.
The entire military will firmly adhere to the idea of living a tight life, strengthen the concept of high efficiency and low consumption, adhere to the principle of diligence and frugality in all undertakings, and improve the efficiency of the use of national defense resources.
Wu Qian pointed out that China adheres to the path of peaceful development and firmly pursues a defensive national defense policy. It has always been a stabilizer in a turbulent world, a positive energy for international security, and an activist in maintaining peace.
As China's military develops and grows, the international community's expectations for China to provide more public security products are also rising.
Moderate and stable growth in defense expenditure will help the Chinese military implement global security initiatives, carry out international peacekeeping, maritime escort, humanitarian rescue and other operations more effectively, and make more contributions to serving and building a community with a shared future for mankind.
China's defense expenditures are open, transparent, reasonable and appropriate.
In accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations such as the National Defense Law and the Budget Law, the Chinese government includes the annual defense expenditure budget into the draft government budget, which is reviewed and approved by the People's Congress, managed and used in accordance with the law, and the total defense expenditure budget is announced to the public.
China actively participates in the United Nations military expenditure transparency system and has submitted its military expenditure report for the previous fiscal year to the United Nations every year since 2008.
At the same time, compared with military powers such as the United States, China's defense expenditure is relatively low in terms of its proportion of gross domestic product (GDP), national fiscal expenditure, per capita defense expenditure, and per capita defense expenditure of military personnel. .
Facts have and will continue to prove that China's limited defense expenditure is entirely necessary to defend the country's sovereignty, security and development interests, and to maintain world peace and stability. The Chinese military has always been a staunch force in maintaining world peace.