China’s expenditure on defense in 2017. will be 1 trillion 44 billion yuan ($151 billion), reported the Agency “associated press” (AP) with reference to the representative of the Chinese Ministry of Finance.

However, according to the Agency, the representative of the Ministry did not answer the question of why the draft budget that was circulated at the ongoing session of vsekitajsky meeting of national representatives (vsnp) the figure is missing. The Chinese official said to the deputies of the session this number was increased.

Premier of China Li Keqiang in the report on the work of the government at the NPC session said that in 2017. China plans to continue a comprehensive reform of the armed forces and national defense .

“We will continue our efforts to deepen reform of national defense and the armed forces, its goal is to build a strong national defense and strong armed forces, which correspond to the international position of China and the interests of national security and development,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that the country will improve its defensive capabilities in the air and at sea, to improve border control and to strengthen efforts in the fight against terrorism.

As others have noted, the text of the draft budget for 2017, which was distributed at the NPC session, the increase in defense spending planned by about 7%, they amount to 1.3% of GDP. In 2016, China’s military expenditure grew by 7.6% to $146 billion.