China will increase its defense spending by more than 7 percent after the National People's Congress (the unicameral parliament) passed the decision on today's final day of its annual session, DPA reported.

The agency points out that this is Beijing increasing its military spending for the second year in a row.

Some 2,900 lawmakers approved the annual budget at the end of the session, which with the 7.2 percent increase rises to 1.67 billion yuan ($232.4 million).

The new increase followed a stern warning issued once again by Communist leaders in Beijing regarding democratically-ruled Taiwan.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned other countries not to interfere in the dispute between China and the self-governing island.

Those who support Taiwan independence "will burn themselves playing with fire and reap the bitter fruits of what they have sown," Wang said at a press conference on Thursday on the sidelines of the annual session of China's parliament.

The country's top diplomat called Taiwan's January presidential and parliamentary elections "just a local election in one part of China." 

The ruling Chinese Communist Party considers Taiwan a Chinese territory, although the island of about 23 million people has had its own independent government since 1949. Former Vice President William Lai was elected president and is expected to take office on May 20.

DPA notes that, as expected, the Chinese people's representatives also approved the setting of a 5 percent economic growth rate for the current year, which some observers have described as a rather ambitious target.

Prime Minister Li Qiang announced this growth on the first day of the session on Tuesday, even as the world's second-largest economy faces declining orders for its goods from global markets, lower domestic consumption and a crisis in the real estate sector, BTA writes.

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DPA points out that after the end of this session of the Chinese National People's Congress, there was no press conference, which happened for the first time in 30 years.

According to the agency, this is one of the few cases in which the prime minister speaks to the media and it is broadcast live on television.

Although such a press conference with the presence of journalists from China and abroad was conducted and the questions were approved in advance, the lack of such a manifestation is accepted by DPA as closing another channel of information from Beijing.

China's parliament, whose annual session is held concurrently with the meetings of the consultative body known as the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has a more representative function, DPA noted.

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