China says 2015 defence budget to rise about 10% this year

[BEIJING] China's defence budget this year will rise about 10 per cent compared with 2014, the spokesman for the country's parliament said on Wednesday.

Spokesman Fu Ying told a news conference that the actual figure would be released on Thursday, when the annual session of China's largely rubber-stamp parliament opens.

Last year, defence spending rose 12.2 per cent to US$130 billion, second only to the United States.

REUTERS