The Chinese government pursues sustainable and integrated development of both the nation's defense capability and its economy and determines the scale of the country's defense expenditure in a reasonable manner, according to a military spokesman.

"In recent years, to safeguard China's sovereignty, security, and development interests, and to meet the needs of military transformation with Chinese characteristics, the Chinese government has generally maintained reasonable and steady growth in defense expenditure while promoting sustained and sound socioeconomic development. Such an approach has simultaneously enhanced both our defense capabilities and economic strength," said Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the delegation of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force to the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress on Tuesday.

The central government has proposed a defense budget of 1.91 trillion yuan ($276.9 billion) for the 2026 fiscal year, a 7 percent year-on-year increase, according to a draft budget report submitted to the national legislature last week.

Consolidating national defense and building a strong military constitute a strategic underpinning for Chinese modernization, Zhang said, explaining that the budget was made after considering multiple factors, including the needs of national security and overall development, the synchronization between military modernization and China's overall modernization, as well as the on-time realization of the PLA's centenary goal.

He said that the increased expenditure is expected to be mainly used to promote the integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization within the armed forces, upgrade the joint operations system and traditional combat forces, advance the large-scale, combat-oriented, and systematic development of new-domain forces, and develop advanced combat capabilities.

It will also be spent on accelerating the development of advanced weaponry, promoting innovation in defense technology, expediting the establishment of a modern logistics system, deepening political rectification, advancing combat-oriented training, and improving personnel training, according to the spokesman.

Zhang stated that the military will advance the reform of military budget management, achieve a dynamic balance between the supply and demand of military funds, strengthen whole-chain control and performance evaluation in the use of military funds, and ensure that every fund is spent where it can bring the greatest benefits.