Japan is closely watching a sharp increase in China's defense spending in recent years and will urge Beijing to boost transparency in its defense policy, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday.
"Our country would like to urge China to improve transparency in its defense policy through dialogue and exchanges in the security area," the top government spokesman said after Beijing unveiled a 10.1 percent jump in its defense outlays for this year.
Referring to the double-digit annual growth in China's defense budget for a quarter of a century except 2010, Suga said, "The (Japanese) government would like to pay close attention to this trend."