China plans to increase defence budget up to 18% Posted by Scott Manning on March 05, 2002 | Comments (1)

China plans to raise its defense budget by nearly 18 per cent this year, pushing its budget deficit to a record 309.8 billion Yuan ($37.3 billion), news reports said on Monday.

Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng will ask delegates to the annual session of China's parliament to approve defense spending of 166 billion Yuan ($20 billion), a rise of 17.6 per cent, Hong Kong-based Ming Pao said.Full Story...