China has announced it will be boosting its military spending in the coming years to counter what it describes as ‘escalating threats’ from abroad. The move was announced at the National People’s Congress, a rubber-stamp parliament, which is currently meeting in Beijing. Officials said the country’s military budget would increase by 7.2 percent. China’s current military budget is around 225 billion US dollars – only about a quarter of that of the United States.

China’s military activities are being watched with concern by Taiwan, which earlier warned of the need to be on high alert for China entering areas close to its territory.

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