China: March 4, 2005

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China is increasing its official defense budget 12.6 percent next year, to $30. But many military items, including most weapons purchases, are not included in the official budget. It's believed that China is spending closer to $60 billion on defense. It was also announced that the military would continue reducing manpower, with the size of the armed forces shrinking by 200,000 troops over the next year (to 2.3 million.)