China Slows Growth of Defense Spending

China said it will raise its official defense budget 7.5% this year—the smallest increase in two decades—as the government shifts resources toward other priorities, reports WSJ.

Li Zhaoxing, a spokesman for China's legislature, the National People's Congress, said the country would spend nearly $78 billion on its armed forces in 2010, up from $72.5 billion last year. That is a sharply lower growth rate than the nearly 19% average budget rise for the People's Liberation Army every year since 2006.