Whether in absolute terms or the proportion to GDP, China's defense budget is at a low level compared with some major countries in the world, said General Liao Xilong, member of the Central Military Commission and chief of the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in an interview with Xinhua Monday.

Liao says the amount of China's defense budget is in accordance with its strategy of positive defense.

China plans a defense budget of 280.729 billion yuan for 2006, an increase of 14.7 percent over last year, according to the report on the implementation of the central and local budget for 2005 and the draft of central and local budget for 2006, which has been delivered at the ongoing Fourth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC) for deliberation.

Liao explained that the figure is about 35.1 billion U.S. dollars, which is only seven percent of the biggest national defense budget in the world.

He further noted that the per serviceman in China is some 15,000 U.S. dollars, less than one twentieth of that of the country that spends the most in defense.

In terms of the ratio of defense budget to GDP, Liao said the percentages in major countries and regions are mostly between 2.5 percent and five percent but China's defense spending is expected to be some 1.4 percent of its GDP this year.

Liao made it clear that China's military expenditure will continue to increase moderately and the newly added amount would be used to meet the demands in three aspects.

Firstly, it will provide for the country's military forces, securing both the supplies for military use and living conditions of the servicemen. Priority will be given to raising the salary of servicemen to keep and attract talented persons in the army.

Secondly, the increased amount will contribute to the informationization drive in the Chinese army that has just taken off. Fund is needed in many aspects.

Thirdly, more investment will be made for training new type of military talents. Military colleges will get more financial support to modernize their equipment. And a more favorable condition will be created to facilitate military training.

By People's Daily Online