China said Sunday its military spending would top $100 billion in 2012 — a double-digit increase on last year — in a move likely to fuel concerns about Beijing’s rapid military build-up.
The defence budget will rise 11.2 percent to 670.27 billion yuan ($106.41 billion), said Li Zhaoxing, a spokesman for China’s national parliament, citing a budget report submitted to the country’s rubber-stamp legislature.
The figure marks a slowdown from 2011 when spending rose by 12.7 percent but is still likely to fuel worries over China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region and push its neighbours to forge closer ties with the United States.
Li described the budget as “relatively low” as a percentage of gross domestic product compared with other countries and said it was aimed at “safeguarding sovereignty, national security and territorial integrity”.
“We have a large territory and a long coastline but our defence spending is relatively low compared with other major countries,” Li told reporters.
“It will not in the least pose a threat to other countries.”
