China's defense spending is expected to grow 17.8 percent this year to 350.9 billion yuan (US$45.3 billion), a spokesman for the country's legislature said yesterday.

Proposed defense expenditures account for 7.5 percent of China's entire budget for 2007, compared with 7.4 percent in 2006, said Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the National People's Congress.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, will submit the budget for approval at the annual session of the legislature, which opens in Beijing today.

Jiang said the defense budget is being raised to further increase salaries and allowances for service people and retirees.

In addition, more money will be spent to improve the army's operating and living conditions, he said.

The increased spending will also be used to upgrade military equipment and improve the troops' capability to fight a defensive war using information technologies.

"It's a moderate increase in step with China's economic development," said Liao Xilong, director of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army and a member of the Central Military Commission.

Jiang noted that China's military spending remains low compared with many other countries, both in its total amount and as a ratio of gross domestic product.

Using 2005 as example, China's defense budget totaled US$30.6 billion, only 6.2 percent of the United States' military spending, 52.6 percent of Britain's, 71.5 percent of France's and 67.5 percent of Japan's, Jiang said.

China's defense spending accounted for 1.35 percent of its GDP in 2005, compared with 4 percent for the US, 2.7 percent for Britain and 1.9 percent for France.

Jiang also stressed that China will pursue a course of peace and development in building its military.

"China's national defense is aimed at maintaining the country's security and unity and to guarantee the realization of a moderately well-off society," he said.

China earlier protested a Japanese official's "irresponsible" remarks over Beijing's increased military capacity.

In late February, Shoichi Nakagawa, policy chief of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said China could bring Japan under its control as "another Chinese province" in the future, given the country's increasing military capabilities.

"It is natural for China to maintain defense powers, as it is a sovereign state with long borders on land and at sea, and it gives no cause for criticism," Qin Gang, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told a press conference.