China has maintained reasonable and steady growth in defense spending to tackle complex security challenges and fulfill its responsibility as a major country, a military spokesperson said. 
  
"History proves and will continue to prove that the Chinese armed forces will always be a staunch force in safeguarding national interests and maintaining world peace," said Wu Qian, spokesperson for the delegation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the People's Armed Police Force at the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's national legislature, on Wednesday. 
  
The Chinese government takes into consideration the demands of its national defense and the development of the economy to decide on the appropriate scale of defense expenditure, Wu said. 
  
China has been submitting reports on its military expenditure to the United Nations every year since 2008, Wu said, adding that it is groundless for some external forces to hype up the so-called "hidden military spending." 
  
China's defense budget remains relatively low compared with the U.S., Wu said. 

China's defense budget will increase by 7.1 percent to 1.45 trillion yuan (about $229 billion) this year, maintaining the single-digit growth for the seventh consecutive year, according to a report on the draft central and local budgets for 2022 submitted to the national legislature last Saturday. 

Wu also stressed that the Chinese military will never tolerate "Taiwan independence" separatist acts and the interference of external forces. 

Relevant exercises and training activities of the PLA are by no means targeted at Taiwan compatriots, but "Taiwan independence" separatist activities and the interference of external forces, he said. 

Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority's separatist activities and collusion with external forces are the root cause of the current tension and disturbance in the Taiwan Straits, he said. 

"The more the United States and Japan make waves on the Taiwan question, the tougher actions we will take to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Wu warned. 

(With input from Xinhua)