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BEIJING, March 5- China will boost its defence spending by 7.2% this year, fuelling a military budget that has more than doubled under Xi Jinping’s decade-plus in office as Beijing hardens its stance on Taiwan, according to official reports on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increase mirrors the rate presented in last year’s budget and again comes in above the government’s economic growth forecast for this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China also officially adopted tougher language against Taiwan as it released the budget figures, dropping the mention of “peaceful reunification” in a government work report delivered by Premier Li Qiang at the opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber-stamp parliament, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tensions have risen sharply in recent years over Taiwan, the democratically ruled island that China claims as its own, and elsewhere across East Asia as regional military deployments rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Li Mingjiang, a defence scholar at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, said that despite a struggling Chinese economy, Taiwan is a major consideration for Beijing’s defence spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“China is showing that in the coming decade it wants to grow its military to the point where it is prepared to win a war if it has no choice but to fight one,” Li said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since Xi Jinping became president and commander-in-chief more than a decade ago, the defence budget has ballooned to 1.67 trillion yuan ($230.60 billion) this year from 720 billion yuan in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n