China Increases Military Spending by 12.7 Percent

China’s military spending will rise 12.7 percent in 2011 to about $91.5 billion, a parliamentary spokesman said on Friday, resuming a long string of double-digit annual increases after an unexpected slowdown in 2010.

The resumption of rapid growth follows a year in which China’s neighbors have expressed concern about the military’s increasingly muscular behavior in waters off its Pacific coast and along the tense border with India. But the spokesman, Li Zhaoxing, repeated China’s longstanding position that the military is a defensive force and “will not pose a threat to any country.”

Mr. Li announced the increase as the National People’s Congress, China’s 3,000-delegate quasi-legislature, prepared to open its annual session at the Great Hall of the People on Saturday.

Read more