China's Defence Budget Just for Own Security: FM Spokesman

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 25, 2002

China's Defence Budget Just for Own Security: FM Spokesman

China's military budget for 2002 is 166.2 billion yuan (about US$20 billion), and the figure is a reliable one, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan on Thursday.

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China's military budget for 2002 is 166.2 billion yuan (about US$20 billion), and the figure is a reliable one, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan on Thursday.

Kong made the remark in Beijing to reporters in response to a recent Pentagon report which estimated China's 2002 military spending at a hefty US$65 billion, more than three times the official figure of China.

The spokesman said that budget Law has been promulgated and enforced in China, adding the country's defence spending, as well as spendings for other purposes are strictly managed according to the law.

The estimation that China's defence budget is as high as US$65 billion is groundless and may contain untold motives, he said.

Kong pointed out that China's defense budget is the lowest among all the major countries in the world. "`For a large country like China, which has a 1.3 billion population and long land borders and coastal lines, the annual US$20 billion defence budget only meets the basic needs of maintaining security,'' the spokesman said.

Kong said that compared with other big countries in the world, China's military spending is rather kept at a low level, no matter calculated by the aggregate spending, the per-capita spending, its proportion to the country's GDP or the annual state revenue.

"As a developing country, China's paramount task is economic construction so as to further raise its people's living standard." said Kong.

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