China's 2016 military budget to rise '7 to 8 pct': official

BEIJING, March 4 (Yonhap) -- China's military budget will be raised by seven to eight percent this year, the spokeswoman for the country's rubber-stamp parliament said Friday, despite slowing economic growth.

The actual figure will be released on Saturday, but Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the National People's Congress, the Chinese Communist Party-controlled parliament, told a news conference that the growth rate of China's military budget for this year will be "between seven and eight percent."

China raised its military budget by 10.1 percent last year.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent last year and is expected to decline further this year.

China's rapid military modernization has increased tensions with its Asian neighbors at a time when it is embroiled in bitter territorial disputes with Japan and other nations over islands in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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