China Hikes 2019 Defense Budget by 7.5 Percent to $177.5 Billion

China has announced an increase of 7.5 percent from 2018 in its defense budget for 2019. China has allocated 1.1899 trillion yuan ($177.5 billion) as its defense expenditure for 2019.

The figure was made public in the Government Work Report released at the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) on Tuesday, Global Times reported Tuesday.

The figure shows the modernization of the Chinese military remains at a normal and stable speed instead of a premature rush, Xu Guangyu, a senior consultant at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, was quoted as saying by the news daily.

China's annual defense budget has shifted from double-digit growth to single-digit growth in 2016.

Compared to the 2019 growth target of GDP, which is between 6 and 6.5 percent according to the Government Work Report, the growth rate of military funding is a little faster.

"The growth rate of the defense budget did not break away from the GDP growth target by much," Xu said, noting that China's military fund is still closely related to the GDP.

The military expenditure of 2018, 1.107 trillion yuan as released by the Government Work Report, only accounts for about 1.3 percent of China's GDP, a figure significantly lower than the world average of 2.6 percent and major military powers like the US and Russia, which have a defense expenditure/GDP ratio of 4 percent on average in recent years, according to data gathered by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily.