China said Friday it plans to raise its defense budget by 12.7 percent to 601 billion yuan (91.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011, compared with an increase of 7.5 percent last year.

"The government has always tried to limit military spending and it has set the defense spending at a reasonable level to ensure the balance between national defense and economic development," said Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the annual session of China's national legislature.

The former foreign minister also said China's defense expenditure is transparent and defensive in nature.

Source: Xinhua