BEIJING, March 1 -- Double-digit growth in China's defense budget in recent years is moderate and in line with the country's economic conditions, a military expert said ahead of the two sessions during which military spending would be a focus.

In an interview with Xinhua on Saturday, Yin Zhuo, director of the Expert Consultation Committee of the PLA Navy, said China's military spending is still far from the level it needs to be as the country faces increasingly severe security challenges.

The Chinese government is to unveil its defense budget for 2014 during the annual session of the National People's Congress, set to begin on March 5.

Last year, China raised its central government defense budget by 10.7 percent to 720.2 billion yuan (117.7 billion U.S. dollars). It spent 650.6 billion yuan on national defense in 2012, an increase of 11.5 percent than the previous year.

Although the rise in the defense budget in the past three years has surpassed GDP growth, the spending's share in GDP, which came in at 1.4 percent, is still far below the world average of 3 percent, Yin said citing statistics.

The expert added that China's peaceful development required the backing from both the economy and the military.

His comments came as China's growing military spending has come under various interpretations, with some countries exaggerating the expenditure and doubting China's peaceful intentions.

In response to some reports claiming China's military spending would surpass that of the U.S. in the 2030s, Yin said China "has no intention to seek hegemony" and will stick on a peaceful development path.

He reiterated that China will continue to keep its military policies open and transparent.

A report released by London's International Institute for Strategic Studies showed the U.S. remained the world's biggest defense spender in 2013, with a budget of 600.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.