Defense budget pegged at 1.91t yuan, up 7%

The Chinese 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 on Thursday morning.

Pending approval by lawmakers, the proposed expenditure would mark the 11th consecutive year of single-digit growth since 2016 and represent the lowest percentage increase since the 2021 fiscal year, when national legislators approved a 6.8 percent rise.

The figures were included in the report prepared by the Ministry of Finance and distributed to lawmakers at the opening meeting of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

At the NPC session last year, the central government proposed a defense budget of 1.78 trillion yuan for the 2025 fiscal year, a 7.2 percent year-on-year increase. The 2024 defense budget was set at 1.67 trillion yuan, also marking a 7.2 percent rise.

The United States remains the world's largest military spender, setting a military budget for 2026 at more than $900 billion.

A large proportion of the funding would be used in efforts aimed at China, according to the US National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which describes China as one of the country's "foreign adversaries".

The draft copy of the annual government work report, distributed to news reporters at Thursday's opening meeting, said that in the new year, the government will continue to deepen political rectification within the armed forces and strive to achieve the goals set for the centenary of the People's Liberation Army in 2027.

It will continue to advance combat training, accelerate the development of advanced capabilities and enhance the strategic capacity to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests. It will also push forward the formulation of the military's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), implement major defense projects and modernize military theories.

The government will deepen reforms in military and civilian sectors related to national defense, optimize defense industries and consolidate and enhance integrated strategies and strategic capabilities. The national defense mobilization and education systems will also be improved, according to the report.

Governments at all levels are required to support the development of national defense and the armed forces and to consolidate unity between the military and the government, as well as between the military and the people, according to the report.