CHINA’S military budget will grow by about 10 percent in the coming year, a legislative spokeswoman said yesterday.

    The increase to about US$145 billion in spending would mark the fifth year in a row of double-digit increases.

    Parliament spokeswoman Fu Ying told reporters the actual figure would be released today, when the annual session of the National People’s Congress opens.

    She said the bigger budgets are only aimed at modernizing and improving conditions for the 2.3 million-member People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest standing military.

    “China has a tougher road to travel than other large nations in terms of national defense modernization. We can only rely on ourselves for research and development of most of our military technology,” Fu said. “Meanwhile, we need to ceaselessly improve conditions for our soldiers.”

    Fu said China’s military posture remains strictly defensive and it has never used “gunboats” to advance its trade interests.

    The planned increase of about 10 percent is in line with the overall increase in government spending planned for 2015, Fu said.

    Last year, the defense spending was budgeted to rise 12.2 percent to US$130 billion, second only to the United States.

    Xinhua News Agency said the 2015 target would represent the slowest growth in military spending in five years.

    China has logged a nearly unbroken two-decade run of double-digit budget increases.

    China’s military spending is still less than a third of the U.S. defense budget, a proposed US$534 billion this year along with US$51 billion for the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

    (SD-Agencies)