China says it will increase its defense budget 7.2% this year, as it continues its campaign to build a larger, more modern military to assert its territorial claims and challenge the U.S. defense lead in Asia. The budget was announced Wednesday at the annual meeting of China’s legislature. The increase is the same percentage as last year. China’s military spending remains the second largest behind the U.S. Tensions with the U.S., Taiwan, Japan and neighbors who share claims to the crucial South China Sea are seen as furthering growth in increasingly high-tech military technologies from stealth fighters to aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons.
