At a June 25 regular briefing, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Col. Zhang Xiaogang said China publishes its defense budget annually, discloses budget totals, structure and use, participates in the UN military expenditure transparency mechanism, and has submitted previous‑fiscal‑year military spending reports to the UN each year since 2008. He said China’s defense spending is reasonable, moderate and restrained, and has long remained below 1.5% of GDP. By contrast, Zhang said Japan’s defen

At a June 25 regular briefing, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Col. Zhang Xiaogang said China publishes its defense budget annually, discloses budget totals, structure and use, participates in the UN military expenditure transparency mechanism, and has submitted previous‑fiscal‑year military spending reports to the UN each year since 2008. He said China’s defense spending is reasonable, moderate and restrained, and has long remained below 1.5% of GDP. By contrast, Zhang said Japan’s defense budget has risen rapidly for 14 consecutive years, defense spending now accounts for roughly 2% of GDP with plans to push toward 3.5%, and Japan’s per‑capita defense spending is more than three times China’s. He accused Japan of using a "conspiracy theory" to smear China’s defense outlays to deflect attention and mask its "re‑militarization" ambitions.