China to boost military spending

Fri Mar 4, 2011

China has been seeking to increase its defense budget in 2011 by 12.7 percent, bringing the country's military spending to around 92 billion dollars.

The Chinese government introduced the new figure in a budgetary report submitted to the National People's Congress on Friday.

"China has always paid attention to controlling the size of defense spending and this will not pose a threat to any country," Chinese parliament spokesman Li Zhaoxing told reporters, describing Beijing's defense expenditures as "relatively low" compared with the rest of the world.

Beijing maintains the budget is needed for the modernization of its military, insisting that the move purely serves defense purposes.

The budget went up by just 7.5 percent in 2010, after long periods of double-digit increases.

The advanced systems China has in the works have raised concerns for some countries that plan to upgrade their forces in response.

Meanwhile, the United States is particularly worried about the new Chinese missiles that can take out an aircraft carrier.

China was the world's second largest military spender in 2009, after the United States.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168136.html.