China's defense ministry onThursdayannounced a 10 percent rise in military spending, as premier Li Keqiang vowed to continue to oppose any move towards Taiwan independence and support the embattled leader of Hong Kong.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party plans to raise defense spending to 886.9 billion yuan (U.S.$144.2 billion), according to government figures released on the first day of the country's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC).
The plans will make China the second biggest spender on its military after the United States, but they compare with an increase 12.2 percent this time last year, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Presenting his annual work report to the NPC, premier Li Keqiang told delegates Beijing was cutting its cloth to fit in with lower economic growth, which reached 7.4 percent last year, the lowest in more than 20 years.
But Li said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) would step up investment in technical upgrades for the armed forces, including research and development of new and high-tech weaponry.
"Building a solid national defense and strong armed forces is fundamental to safeguarding China's sovereignty, security, and developmental interests," Li said.
Key phase
According to Chen Zhou, a researcher with the state-run Academy of Military Sciences, the PLA is in a "key phase" of upgrading its information systems and mechanical technology.
The PLA is costing more as China takes on more military responsibilities on the world stages, joining international peacekeeping missions, fighting piracy in dangerous waters, offering medical expertise in countries affected by Ebola and sweeping for mines in countries that are still recovering from past wars, Chen told Xinhua.
"We will make sure that every cent of the money is spent to boost the army's combativeness," he said. "This will be the 'new normal' in China's army development."
Analysts outside China believe the true military spending figures may be significantly higher than those published onThursday, however.
Retired Toledo University international politics professor Ran Bogong said Beijing's growing military spending is a cause for concern overseas.
"The official military budget typically doesn't include a lot of government-funded military research and development projects in a number of areas," Ran said. "These figures are usually included in U.S. military spending figures."
"A lot of overseas analysts think that the true figures for China's military budget are considerably higher."
Potentially vulnerable
NPC spokeswoman Fu Ying told reporters that China still considers itself potentially vulnerable.
"Lagging behind leaves one vulnerable to attacks," Fu commented on the military budget. "That is a lesson we have learned from history."
Elsewhere in his speech, Li vowed to continue to oppose any moves towards independence in Taiwan, a democratic island that Beijing regards as a renegade province awaiting reunification.
China will also seek to extend its soft power to the island, which saw a student-led Sunflower Movement oppose closer trade links with the mainland inMarch 2014.
Li said the Chinese government would strengthen people-to-people exchanges with Taiwan, particularly among young people.
"We firmly believe that the peaceful development of cross-strait relations is an irreversible historic trend," Li said.
The "Sunflower Movement," which protested a trade and services pact with Beijing, gave voice to growing public anxiety on the self-governing island over allowing Taiwan's former enemies to get too close.
It was followed by the student-led Occupy Central pro-democracy in Hong Kong, which brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets at its height, as part of a campaign for fully democratic elections in 2017.
'Fake' sufferage
But Beijing has styled the "Umbrella Movement" an illegal protest, rejecting repeated calls on the NPC to allow for publicly nominated candidates in the next race for the city's chief executive.
The 79-day Occupy movement has rejected Beijing's reform plans which allow voters to choose between pre-approved candidates as "fake universal suffrage."
While he made no mention of the democracy movement, Li told the NPC China would work together with Hong Kong and Macau to "promote democracy and social harmony," as well as expanding exchanges with Hong Kong "in all areas."
He also voiced support for Hong Kong chief executive C.Y. Leung, who faced strident calls for his resignation from protesters, saying Beijing would support his rule "according to law."
Beijing would handle the issues of Hong Kong and Macau "strictly in accordance with the Chinese constitution and the Basic Law," Li said, which is the first time he has mentioned the Chinese constitution rather than the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, according to the South China Morning Post newspaper.
Hong Kong NPC delegate Rita Fan said Li's comments should be taken as a warning to those who espouse the idea of independence for the city, which was promised a high degree of autonomy under the terms of its 1997 handover to China.
"A lot of things have happened during the past year in Hong Kong, and a small minority of people have been talking about Hong Kong independence," Fan told reporters after the NPC session.
"People brought all sorts of weird banners out with them, and such actions cannot be allowed to continue," she said, in an apparent reference to a small number of protesters who waved the Hong Kong British colonial flag.
Pan-democratic lawmaker Albert Ho said it was questionable whether or not the Aug. 31 decision from the NPC was legal and constitutional.
"The ruling...by the NPC standing committee infringed on the jurisdiction of the Basic Law, and over-reached the limits of the Chinese constitution," Ho said.
"We believe it is illegal for the NPC to exercise jurisdiction under the Chinese constitution with regard to matters under the 'one country, two systems' framework," he said.
Beijing has threatened to use force against Taiwan, governed since 1949 by Chinese nationalists who lost a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists on the mainland, should the island seek formal independence.
Chinese officials have also said that the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration is "void" and that China answers to no one in exercising sovereignty over Hong Kong.
Reported by Xi Wang for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.