Beijing, March 5: China on Sunday hiked its defence budget by 7.2 per cent, marginally higher than last year, to 1.55 trillion yuan (about USD 224 billion), marking the eighth consecutive year of increase in its military spending.

China last year pegged its defence budget at 1.45 trillion yuan, a 7.1 per cent increase. This year the defence spending is increased to 1.55 trillion yuan. Also Read | Nikki Haley Slams Last Two Republican Presidents for Adding USD 10 Trillion to National Debt.

However, in view of the appreciation of the dollar against the yuan, this year's defence spending of China totalled about USD 224 billion compared to last year's USD 230 billion. This is the eighth consecutive year that China has announced a single-digit percentage point increase in its military budget. Also Read | China Is Destroying Tibetan Identity, Language and Culture, Says UN Report.

In his work report presented to the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) - the country's rubber-stamp parliament - outgoing Premier Li Keqiang called for the armed forces to boost combat preparedness.

China's armed forces, with a focus on the goals for the centenary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in 2027, should work to carry out military operations, boost combat preparedness and enhance military capabilities so as to accomplish the tasks entrusted to them by the CPC (Chinese Communist Party ) and the people, Li said.

The armed forces should intensify military training and preparedness across the board, develop new military strategic guidance, devote greater energy to training under combat conditions, and make well-coordinated efforts to strengthen military work in all directions and domains, Li said.

China is the second biggest spender on defence next to the US whose defence budget for 2023 totalled USD 816 billion. From India's point of view, however, China's defence budget continued to be over three times higher. India's defence budget for 2023-24 amounted to Rs 5.94 lakh crore (about USD 72.6 billion).

Aided by increasing defence budgets, the two-million-strong PLA, the world's largest military, is increasingly getting powerful and assertive with the ever-expanding military modernisation of its Army, Navy and Air Force.

The Chinese military is headed by President Xi Jinping, who is the Chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, the overall high command of the PLA.

Xi, 69, the only Chinese leader to have been elected for an unprecedented third term five-year term by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in October last year, also heads the party besides the Presidency.

Under his leadership, the Chinese military has embarked on a massive military modernisation with a goal to be on par with the US armed forces in the next few years.

The Chinese Navy, the fast-expanding arm of the Chinese military, has now three aircraft carriers while its Air Force continued to be modernised with a vast variety of military jets including stealth jet fighters.

Ahead of the NPC session, its spokesman Wang Chao on Saturday defended China's steady increases in annual defence budgets saying that the country's defence spending as a share of the GDP was lower than the world average. China has been ramping up its defence expenditure as it vied with the US for global influence.

Wang said the increase in the defence budget is needed to meet the complex security challenges for China to fulfil its responsibilities as a major country. China's military modernisation will not be a threat to any country but a positive force safeguarding regional stability and world peace, he said.

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