Japan is "crying thief" over China's defense budget, a Chinese Ministry of Defense spokesperson said Wednesday. 

Jiang Bin, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said Japan is looking for a pretext for its own military expansion. 

China's defense spending accounts for less than 1.5% of its GDP – significantly lower than that of major military powers like the US, and below the global average and NATO's 2% benchmark, Jiang said in response to a recent statement made by Japan's chief cabinet secretary on China's 2026 defense budget.

By publicly disclosing the size, composition, and allocation of its 2026 defense budget, China leaves no room for doubt, he continued. 

"The increase in China's defense budget is characterized by a reasonable, moderate, and restrained growth. Such an increase is solely meant to meet the needs of safeguarding China's sovereignty, security, and development interests, and of maintaining world peace and stability. The stronger the Chinese military, the more secure the world would be," Jiang said.

When Japanese politicians hype up China's defense budget and the so-called China threat, it is nothing more than a thief crying "stop thief," so as to find excuses for Japan's hidden ambition of military expansion, he added.

Due to its history of launching wars of aggression, Japan should be "completely disarmed" and not maintain industries that would enable her to re-arm for war, in accordance with legally-binding international instruments such as the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. It must be pointed out that Japan's defense budget has grown for 14 years in a row and increased by over 60% in the past five years, reaching 2% of its GDP, Jiang said.

"Japan's per capita military spending is more than three times that of China. The Japanese side is making drastic efforts to break away from the constraints of its pacifist Constitution. It has developed and deployed offensive weapons far beyond the needs for exclusive defense, and pursued remilitarization without ever a reckoning with its past atrocities. These are the real threat to regional peace and stability," the spokesperson noted.

He urged the Japanese side to look at itself in the mirror more often, stop its misleading smearing campaigns, and never repeat the doomed mistake of militarism.

(Cover: Troops make preparations before a military parade in Beijing, capital of China, September 3, 2025. /Xinhua)