China's central government will increase defense spending at a slower pace than last year as President Xi Jinping overhauls the military and seeks to stamp out the corruption that hinders the country's combat readiness.
The defense budget will rise about 10 percent this year, in line with the increase in the general budget, National People's Congress spokeswoman Fu Ying said at a briefing on the NPC meetings that will kick off Thursday. Last year military spending rose 12.2 percent to 808.2 billion yuan ($128.9 billion).
China's leaders have routinely sought to justify the country's military modernization by linking defense spending to rapid GDP growth. But growth of 7.4 percent last year was the slowest in 24 years, and a further slowdown to around 7 percent is expected in 2015.