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Article: China Increases Military Spending
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- March 6, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Associated Press. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Associated Press. (Hide copyright information)
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JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
AP Online
03-06-2000
China Increases Military Spending
BEIJING (AP) -- Amid renewed tensions with Taiwan, China said today it will boost military spending by 12.7 percent this year.
The spending hike for the People's Liberation Army -- or PLA -- the world's largest military, comes on top of an increase of the same percentage in last year's budget.
In announcing his 2000 budget to the national legislature, Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng said $14.5 billion would be spent on defense. China was expected to have an economic growth rate of 7 percent this year.
He said the new funds would mainly cover salary and allowance increases for troops, as well as ...