China will raise defence spending "around seven percent" this year as it guards against "outside meddling" in its disputed regional territorial claims, a top official said Saturday, in an apparent reference to Washington. Just days after US President Donald Trump outlined plans to raise American military spending by around 10 percent, a spokeswoman for China's parliament told reporters that future Chinese expenditures will depend on US actions in the region. Fu did not specify what "meddling" she was referring to, but Beijing's increasingly assertive stance towards its claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea have stirred alarm in the region and prompted criticism from Washington.



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