NPC proposes $30 bln military spending for 2005
4/3/2005 16:47
The State Council, China's cabinet, has proposed the country's top
legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), to approve a 247.7 billion
yuan (29.8 billion US dollars) national defense budget for the year 2005, a
spokesman said here Friday.
"This is still a fairly small amount compared with (the military spending) of
other major countries in the world, in terms of its proportion to China's total
financial expenditures and gross national product," said Jiang Enzhu, spokesman
of the upcoming third annual session of the 10th NPC, slated to begin on March
5, at a press conference Friday morning.
The budgeted money will be mainly used for the raise of paymentand social
security guarantee for the servicemen, the arrangement of officers and soldiers
discharged in China's latest move to cut its troops by 200,000, and the
military's armament upgrading to promote the modernization of China's national
defense, Jiang said.
Xinhua
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