China hikes defence budget by 17.8 per cent

BEIJING: China on Monday hiked its defence budget for 2007 by a whopping 17.8 per cent to nearly 44 billion US dollars to improve the military's ability to fight a defensive war and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Announcing this, Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said the government has allocated 347.23 billion yuan (43.95 billion US dollars) for the current fiscal, registering a growth of 17.8 per cent over last year.

The increase was 52.498 billion yuan more than the defence budget for 2006, which could further global concerns on China's military build-up, considered by many as opaque.

"This increase will cover the cost of improving the army's ability to fight a defensive war under hi-tech conditions and respond to emergencies, safeguarding the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and appropriately increasing benefits for military personnel," Jin told some 2,000 deputies to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament at the Great Hall of the People.

Jin's reference to protecting China's territorial integrity mainly refers to the unresolved sensitive issue of Taiwan, the self-ruled island which Beijing views as a rebel province.

In his state of the nation speech, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao restated China's resolve to oppose all types of efforts for Taiwan independence.