Beijing, Mar 4: China today announced a whopping 17.6 per cent rise in its Defence Budget for 2008 but strongly defended the spending on military, saying it was lower than that of other major powers including India.

Military spending in 2008 will reach USD 57.22 billion, spokesman of National People's Congress, China's parliament, Jiang Enzhu said.

Maintaining that its defence policy was defensive in nature and did not pose a threat to any country, China said its national defence spending in 2007 accounted only for 1.4 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 7.2 per cent of overall budgeting.

Ahead of the NPC session beginning from tomorrow, Jiang said the country's share of defence expenditure in relation to GDP and overall spending was lower than in other countries, particularly major ones.

In 2007, he said, the defence spending in the US accounted for 4.6 per cent of its GDP and 16.6 per cent of overall budgetary spending. In Britain, it was 3 per cent and 6.9 per cent, in France 2 per cent and 13.5 per cent and in Russia 2.63 per cent and 15.1 per cent.

Jiang said in India, the defence spending was 2.5 per cent of its GDP and 14.1 per cent of its overall spending.

"Compared to these figures, in 2007, the national defence spending of China accounted only for 1.4 per cent of our GDP and 7.2 per cent of overall budgetary spending," he said.

China pursued a defence policy which was "defensive in nature and its "limited" military capability was designed to safeguarding the country's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and "does not pose a threat to any country," he said.

Jiang said the proposed increases in the defence budget for 2008 would be mainly for pay of officers and men in uniform, to offset the impact of price hikes, to allow more input in oil purchase, for education and training of the army and to moderately spend on armaments to enhance the troops' capability in defensive operations based on information technologies.

"There are all sorts of comments on China's defence budget," he said, apparently referring to the repeated flaying of the Communist giant's military spending by the US and some major powers who accuse it of lack of transparency.

Jiang said in recent years, the Chinese government had moderately increased its spending on national defence on the basis of a sound, steady and fast economic growth and rapid increase in revenues. "These increases were compensatory in nature to make up for the weak defence foundation," he said.

He said from 1979 to 1989, China's defence spending declined by 5.83 per cent each year and in recent years, the rate at which the defence spending was increasing was lower than the rate at which government revenues had been increasing.

Jiang said from 2003 to 2007, the national defence spending increases averaged 15.8 per cent which was significantly lower than the 22.1 per cent rate at which the government revenues were increasing.

"Our defence budget has always been at a level to ensure balanced development of the national defence and socio-economic development," he said.