China defence spending to rise '7 to 8%' in 2016: Official

China's Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers marching at the Ngong Shuen Chau Barracks in Hong Kong

China will raise its defence spending by seven to eight percent this year, a top official said Friday, a smaller increase than the double-digit rises of the past as Beijing seeks a more efficient military.
At the same time it is increasing its military heft and asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, raising tensions with its neighbours and with Washington.
"China's military budget will continue to grow this year but the margin will be lower than last year's and the previous years," said Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the National People's Congress (NPC), the Communist-controlled parliament.
"It will be between seven to eight percent."
The exact increase will be announced on Saturday at the opening of the NPC, Fu told reporters.
The reduced increase comes as China under President Xi Jinping seeks to craft a more efficient and effective People's Liberation Army (PLA), the world's largest standing military.
At a giant military parade in Beijing last year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japan's World War II defeat, Xi announced the PLA would be reduced by 300,000 personnel.
But the event also saw more than a dozen "carrier-killer" anti-ship ballistic missiles rolling through the streets of the capital, with state television calling them a "trump card" in potential conflicts and "one of China's key weapons in asymmetric warfare".
Analysts say that for a fraction of the cost of an aircraft carrier - for decades the mainstay of Washington's ability to project power around the world - the DF-21D missile threatens to alter the military balance in the Pacific.
At the same time, Beijing is looking to increase its own naval strength and reach, and officials confirmed in December that its second aircraft carrier - the first to be entirely domestically designed and built - was under construction.
It has built up artificial islands in the South China Sea - through which a third of the world's oil passes, and which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.
Satellite pictures show what US analysts say are deployments of surface to air missiles and facilities with military use, such as runways and radar.
Several other littoral states have competing claims, as does Taiwan.
Beijing defends its actions as within its sovereign rights and denies Washington's assertions that they threaten freedom of navigation.
At last year's parade, Xi said China's troops would "carry out the noble mission of upholding world peace", faithfully protect national security, and would never "seek hegemony".
Fu said on Friday the country was "pushing forward military reform" to achieve those goals.
The defence budget was determined by both China's defence needs and the national economic situation, she added - the country saw its weakest growth in a quarter of a century last year.
In 2015 the budget was increased by 10.1 percent, bringing it to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.4 billion at the time).
Many analysts believe China's actual military spending is significantly higher than officially publicised.