Beijing: The Chinese military on Wednesday criticised the United States for increasing its defence budget to USD one trillion, saying that “wanton use of force will not make America great again”.

Reacting to reports that the US defence budget for fiscal year 2026 will reach a record USD one trillion, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defence, said such an act would only inflict painful disasters upon the people of the US and the rest of the world.

China, which is the second largest defence spender after the US, hiked its defence budget last month by 7.2 per cent, increasing it to USD 249, which is a USD 17 billion rise compared to last year.

America’s sky-high defence budget exposed once again the bellicose nature of the US side and its belief in “might makes right,” Zhang was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The US government is in heavy debt, yet it keeps pouring ill-got wealth, exploited from other countries, into manufacturing weapons, he said.

PTI