BEIJING (Reuters) - China will increase military spending by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), the government said on Wednesday, partly to beef up coastal and air defences and to develop more high-tech weapons.
The government announced its spending plan for the 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) at the opening of parliament's annual meeting. The increase builds on a nearly unbroken run of double-digit hikes in the defence budget for the past two decades.
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