BEJING. March 6 (Interfax-China) - The Chinese government is planning to spend CNY185.3bn (USD22.4bn) on defense in 2003, a 9.6% increase from 2002, Chinese Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng said in his report on the 2002 budget and the draft 2003 budget.
The increase in the defense budget was caused by changes in the international situation, the need to ensure national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, to increase the efficiency of troops, and to expand the use of high technology in military development, Xiang said.