BEIJING: China's national defence budget will grow 10.1 percent in 2015, the lowest increase in five years, the government said Thursday as it stressed the ruling Communist Party's "absolute leadership" over the army.
Beijing plans to raise its military spending to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.4 billion), according to a budget report to be submitted to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the Communist-controlled legislature. Last year's increase was 12.2 percent, official data showed.
China has for years been raising spending on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in double-digit steps, flexing its military and economic might as it asserts its claims in a series of territorial disputes with Tokyo and others.
China's defence budget saw stated increases of 10.7 percent in 2013, 11.2 percent in 2012 and 12.7 percent in 2011, and this year's rise is the lowest increase since 2010, when according to reports it was 7.5 percent.
Analysts believe China's actual military spending is significantly higher than publicised, with the Pentagon estimating it at between $135 billion and $215 billion in 2012.
Premier Li Keqiang was to tell the NPC that "building a solid national defence and strong armed forces is fundamental to safeguarding China's sovereignty", according to a draft of his opening speech to delegates seen by AFP.
"We must keep to the Party's goal of strengthening the armed forced under the new conditions," it read.
"(We must) uphold the fundamental principle of the party's absolute leadership over the armed forces."
Under President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the ruling party and chairman of its Central Military Commission, China has launched a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption which has ensnared leading military figures.
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