More good news...

Bloomberg:

China will boost its 2007 defense budget by the most in five years, as an expanding economy gives the world's largest regular army resources for upgrades to rival Japan, the U.S. and Taiwan.

Spending will rise by 17.8 percent to 350 billion yuan ($45 billion), to increase salaries for the 2-million strong People's Liberation Army and for ``modernization'' to deter Taiwan's push for independence, the National People's Congress spokesman Jiang Enzhu said at a press conference today in Beijing.

``Deterring Taiwan's independence and maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait remains the most pressing task,'' because China expects ``to see Taiwan continuing its push for de jure independence this year,'' he said.