BEIJING, March 4 (UPI) -- China announced a big boost in its 2005 military spending at a press conference before the opening session of its national legislature this weekend.
Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the National People's Congress, China's highest legislative body, told reporters Friday that the official military budget for the next year was 247.7 billion yuan, the equivalent of $30.2 billion.
"This is an increase of 12.6 percent over last year," Jiang added.
The spokesman said the funds would be used to increase pay for active service soldiers and retirees as well as for restructuring China's force structure that includes weapons purchases and training.
Jiang said his country plans to reduce the size of the People's Liberation Army, the blanket term covering all branches of its armed forces, by 200,000. He did not say how large China's military would be after the cuts, nor when the scaleback would take place.
"China's spending on national defense is low compared with other countries, and very low compared with major powers as a proportion of gross national product," the NPC spokesman said.
Most analysts of the Chinese military consider the official defense budget figure to underestimate the actual amount spent on defense.
