Contributing: Heda Bayron, Stephanie Ho and Peter Simpson
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Even so, Japan's foreign minister says his country "cannot help worrying about what all the money is used for."
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
JAMES NOLT: "In my view it does not represent a significant change in capability. It represents an increase in costs in order to maintain existing capabilities, relative to other countries."
About three thousand delegates from around China are in Beijing for this year's meeting of the National People's Congress.
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Premier Wen recently held a public online chat. He said improving peoples' living conditions will be the starting point for every rule in China's next five-year plan. The plan lists Communist Party goals for twenty eleven through twenty fifteen.
On Friday, a legislative spokesman said China will increase defense spending by almost thirteen percent. This has been about the average since nineteen eighty-nine, except for a smaller increase last year.
The government wants to prevent social problems, and Premier Wen Jiabao says one way to do that is to help the poor.
