China defense budget to grow 10.7% in 2013
Updated: 2013-03-05 09:08
Comments 
Print 
Mail 
Large Medium Small
 |
|
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivers the government work report to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 5, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua] |
BEIJING - China plans to raise its defense budget by 10.7 percent to 720.2 billion yuan ($114.3 billion) in 2013, according to a budget report to be reviewed by the national legislature.
The military spending will be used to improve living and working conditions of service people, make the armed forces more mechanized and information-based, and safeguard national security, the report on draft central and local budgets for 2013 says Tuesday.
China spent 650.6 billion yuan on national defense in 2012, an increase of 11.6 percent than the previous year, says the report to be reviewed at the first session of the 12th National People's Congress.
"China's peaceful foreign policies and its defensive military policies are conducive to security and peace of Asia," said Fu Ying, spokesperson for the first session of the 12th NPC.
China's military spending is dwarfed by that of the United States, and its per capita figure is also far less than that of the US.
China's military spending amounted to about 1.25 percent of its GDP in 2012. The ratio was less than that of the United States, Britain and many other countries.
According to a white paper on China's defense released in 2010, the country's military spending mainly comprises the living expenditures of service people, expenses for training and maintenance, and spending on equipment.
Related Stories
Fu withholds China's defense budget 2013-03-04 15:13
New ROK govt to increase defense spending 2013-02-22 01:35
Republicans block vote on Obama's defense nominee 2013-02-15 09:04
Copyright 1995 - 2010 . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 20100000002731 