Chinese Military Spending Grows... Slowly?

7.5% seems like a large jump in defense spending, but that increase may be slower than recent years. Hard to tell for sure, though, since some of the defense budget is thought to be camouflaged elsewhere.

China has announced plans to boost its military budget by 7.5 percent this year - the smallest increase in more than two decades. The figures were unveiled at a news conference, Thursday, to preview the annual session of China's legislature, which begins Friday.

Li Zhaoxing, spokesman of the National People's Congress, says China's new military budget for 2010 will be nearly $78 billion, or 7.5 percent more than the year before.

Li says the increase is smaller than in previous years. He says the defense spending increases will mainly be used to diversify military capabilities and support reform of the armed forces. He says the money also will be used to help raise the living standards of the men and women in the military.

He says China's defense spending is low, despite the country's physical size and population.

He say the amount China spends on the military will only account for one-point-four percent of the country's gross domestic product. He compared this with more than four percent for the United States and about two percent for Britain, France and Russia.

Many analysts say the official figure accounts for only a part of actual military spending and have called for more transparency in China's military expenditures.

By: Brant