China will lower its defense budget growth rate to 7.5 percent in 2019, from last year’s 8.1 percent. Meanwhile, China’s GDP growth target for this year has been set between 6 and 6.5 percent, the lowest in three decades. Some are asking, how does that number translate into the growth rate of China’s defense budget? Does China have an alternative other than modernizing its military? Why do some international media outlets keep harping on the same string?

Panelists: Zhang Jianping, director of the Center for Regional Economic Cooperation at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation; Andy Mok, non-resident fellow with the Center for China and Globalization(CCG).

From CGTN， March 8,  2019