China is set to increase defence spending by more than 7%, the second such boost in a row, after delegates at the annual rubber-stamp National People's Congress in Beijing approved the boost on Monday.
As the one-week conference drew to a close, some 2,900 delegates approved the annual budget, which this year also foresees an increase in defence spending of 7.2% to 1.67 billion yuan ($232.4 million).
The renewed boost comes after the Communist leadership once again issued a stern warning for democratic Taiwan, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warning other countries last week not to interfere in Beijing's dispute with the self-governing island nation.
Those supporting Taiwan's independence will "get burned for playing with fire and taste the bitter fruit of their own doing," Wang said at a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress on Thursday.
The minister described the recent parliamentary and presidential elections in Taiwan in mid-January as "just local elections in one part of China. The result does not change even in the slightest terms the basic fact that Taiwan is part of China."
The ruling Communist Party in Beijing counts Taiwan as Chinese territory, although the island with more than 23 million inhabitants has had an independent government since 1949.
Taiwan's recent election was won by Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Lai is due to be inaugurated on May 20, replacing President Tsai Ing-wen, who has held office for two terms.
