China asks Japan to be transparent on military budget

China has said that Japan should be more transparent on its military budget and reveal its real intentions.

Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun, who was speaking at a monthly press conference yesterday, said Japan has been increasing its defense spending for years, sparking concern among its neighbours and the international community, reports Xinhua.

Japan, in its 2016 fiscal year, has approved a record-high 5.05 trillion yen (about $41.90 billion) military budget, 1.5 percent increase from the last year.

This is Japan's fourth consecutive year in increasing defense budget.

Yang also blasted Japan's criticism on China's normal military spending growth.

Last month, China announced its lowest defense budget increase in six years.

Apart from helping safeguard national sovereignty and security, Yang pointed out that the budget covered building up of national defense.