Ministry of Defense: Japan Uses "Conspiracy Theories" to Discredit China's Defense Spending and Conceal Its "Re-Militarization"

Reporter: According to reports, after China rebutted Japan's hype about China's defense spending in March this year, the Japanese Defense Minister recently publicly questioned the transparency of China's defense budget again, while claiming that "Japan will invest in new combat methods such as drones and artificial intelligence in a transparent manner to adapt to the changing nature of conflicts." What is your comment on this?

Zhang Xiaogang: China's defense spending is open and transparent, with the total budget, scale, structure, and use of defense expenditures publicly disclosed in accordance with the law every year. China actively participates in the United Nations military expenditure transparency system and has submitted reports on military spending for the previous fiscal year to the United Nations annually since 2008. China's defense spending has consistently adhered to a reasonable, moderate, and restrained approach, accounting for less than 1.5% of GDP for a long time. In contrast, Japan, as a defeated country in World War II, has seen its defense budget grow rapidly for 14 consecutive years, with defense spending soaring to 2% of GDP, and it even plans to further increase it to 3.5%, with per capita defense spending more than three times that of China. The clear will be clear, and the murky will be murky. The Japanese side uses "conspiracy theories" to smear China's defense spending, attempting to divert attention, mislead public opinion, and cover up its ambitions and actions of "remilitarization." What Japan really needs to clarify to the world is: What is the intention behind the rise of "new militarism"?