China announces that its military spending growth rate in 2024 will remain at 7.2% compared to the previous year.

• The Ministry of Finance budget report indicates that China plans to boost its defense spending by 7.2% to 1.67 trillion yuan in 2024.
• The 2024 military budget of China is expected to increase by 7.2%, following a 7.1% increase in 2022, a 6.8% increase in 2021, a 6.6% increase in 2020, and a 7.5% growth in 2019, according to official data.
• Beijing pledged to "firmly resist separatist actions aimed at 'Taiwan independence' and foreign interference," as stated in the government's work report released on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Finance has announced that China will increase its defense spending by 7.2% to 1.67 trillion yuan in 2024, as part of its annual parliamentary meetings in Beijing.

The military budget announcement this year is happening amid the removal of several generals from the People's Liberation Army, including former Defense Minister Li Shangfu, due to President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign in the past year.

The 2024 military budget of China is expected to increase by 7.2%, following a 7.1% increase in 2022, a 6.8% increase in 2021, a 6.6% increase in 2020, and a 7.5% growth in 2019, according to official data.

Beijing's military spending may be larger than officially claimed, making China's official military budget the second largest in the world, behind only the United States.

Beijing has reaffirmed its stance on Taiwan, with President Xi Jinping viewing reunification as a historical inevitability. In a government work report released on Tuesday, Beijing pledged to strongly oppose any separatist activities that seek to achieve "Taiwan independence" and external interference.

Beijing's tensions with its neighbors have escalated from land border skirmishes with India to confrontations in the South China Sea with Southeast Asian countries.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague determined that China's claims over large areas of the South China Sea lack legal justification; however, Beijing has disregarded this decision.

Beijing has also expressed displeasure with joint exercises and patrols involving the U.S. and other Western naval powers in international waters that Beijing considers to be within its own territory.

— CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this story.