Military spending in China will go up by 7.2 percent this year.

According to a government work report delivered by Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, the defence budget was set at 1.665 trillion yuan.

It's the ninth straight year of single-digit increase. Military spending in 2023 also went up by 7.2 percent.

On governance, the report said there is room for improvement in the work of the government.

"Pointless formalities and bureaucratism remain acute. Some officials lack the readiness to get down to work, evade responsibilities, and do their work in a perfunctory way. Corruption remains a common problem in some sectors," Xinhua New Agency reported.

“Making progress is our goal and it is also what motivates us,” Li said in his speech. “We should communicate policies to the public in a well-targeted way to create a stable, transparent and predictable policy environment.” (Agencies)