China urges Japan to increase transparency on military spending

BEIJING -- A Chinese defense ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that Japan should be more transparent about its military budget.

Japan has been increasing its defense spending for years, sparking concern among its neighbors and the international community, spokesperson Yang Yujun told a monthly press conference, saying Japan should explain its real intentions.

Japan has approved a record-high 5.05 trillion yen (about $41.90 billion dollars) military budget for the 2016 fiscal year, a 1.5 percent increase from 2015.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Japan has increased its defense budget.

Yang also blasted Japan's criticisms of China's normal military spending growth.

Earlier this month, China announced its lowest defense budget increase in six years. Yang said the budget covered the building up of national defense and will help safeguard national sovereignty and security.

China's defense budget must be approved by China's top legislature, the National People's Congress, Yang said, stressing that China has no "invisible" defense spending.