China’s defence budget for 2010 is planned to grow by 7.5 per cent to 532.115 billion yuan ($78 billion), according to a spokesman of the National People's Congress (NPC). Accounting for 6.4 per cent of total fiscal expenditure, the defence budget will be” mainly spent to support the reform of the country's military and improve its capability to deal with varied threats and complete diversified tasks.”1

• 1. ‘China's defense budget to grow 7.5% in 2010: spokesman’, Xinhuanet.com, March 4, 2010, at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/04/c_13196769.htm