China is set to increase its defense spending by 7.2% to 1.55 trillion yuan ($224 billion) this year, a 0.1% increase from last year's growth (7.1%), according to official data.

After the figure came out, many Western media outlets compared China's defense spending increase rate with the GDP growth rate China set at 5%, saying China's defense spending had outpaced its economic growth and China is transferring national focus to military power and national security.

However, analysts say the increase is reasonable and restrained amid military spending sprees by many other countries around the world in light of global security tensions.

Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that China's defense spending as a share of GDP has been kept at less than 1.5 percent over the recent years, while the world average is 2%, which means China's defense spending as a share of GDP is lower than the world average.

Besides, the U.S. and Japan have both increased their defense spending budget over the past year citing global security risks.

The U.S. government in December authorized over $800 billion in defense spending for the 2023 fiscal year, which is significantly higher than prior years. In the fiscal year 2022, the U.S. spent $767 billion on national defense, according to data from U.S. Department of the Treasury. And that was about 2% more than the $755 billion spent in 2021, the data showed.

Besides, the military expenditure of the U.S. accounts for 3.5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, according to SIPRI, about 2% higher than that of China.

The Japanese government in December also unveiled its record defense budget for 2023, which will boost its defense budget to a record 6.8 trillion yen ($55billion), a 20% increase compared with that of 2022. And it's part of a controversial new National Security Strategy that aims to double Japan's defense spending to 2% of its GDP by 2027.

The increased defense budget of the U.S. and Japan is also pushing up the military budget of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in February urged the 30 member countries to commit to spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense by 2024, a set date NATO allies agreed on in 2014.

Public data shows that compared with last year's military spending figure, the U.S. increased by 10%, Germany by 17%, Japan by 26.3%, India by 13%. By contrast, China is only increasing by 7.2%, which is much lower.

China's increase in defense spending is proper and it's in pace with China's economic growth, said Tan Kefei, spokesperson for the delegation of the People's Liberation Army and People's Armed Police Force of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress.

He said at a news briefing on Monday that the increase in China's defense spending will be mainly used to strengthen military training, improve military logistics, upgrade defense technology, weapons and equipment, raise military governance, and improve the training and living conditions of the armed forces.

"China is committed to the path of peaceful development and pursues a national defense policy that is defensive in nature," Tan said, "China's defense spending is purely to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests."