FACTBOX: China's growing military clout

(Reuters) - China's defense spending has risen steadily in recent years. The official military budget will grow to 480.7 billion yuan ($70.38 billion) in 2009, a 14.9 percent rise on last year.

Following is a brief overview of China's defense forces.

WORLD'S BIGGEST ARMY:

- China's 2.3 million-strong armed forces are far bigger than the world's second-largest military, that of the United States, whose forces number around 1.5 million.

RED ARMY ROOTS:

- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) was born out of the Red Army, a five-million-strong peasant army. The PLA became the national armed force in 1949 when Communist leader Mao Zedong swept to power.

- Soviet expertise helped organize it into a mass army geared toward protracted wars of attrition during the 1950s, when it fought in the 1950-1953 Korean War alongside North Korea.

NEW DIRECTIONS:

- The PLA is being transformed into a modern force capable of fighting short, high-intensity conflicts against high-tech adversaries. Its navy is considering building an aircraft carrier for instance.

- China watchers are also monitoring international deployments for signs of China's rising global status translating into a more assertive foreign policy and presence. Chinese warships steamed to waters off Somalia in December to assist in anti-piracy patrols.

- In recent months, Chinese vessels have become involved in several brief, non-fatal confrontations with U.S. surveillance vessels in seas off the Chinese coast that Beijing claims are in its exclusive economic zone.

- China has never renounced the use of force to bring self-ruled and democratic Taiwan, which it considers sovereign territory, under its rule. But ties have improved since the election of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou last year.

INCREASED SPENDING:

- China has reported nearly two decades of almost unbroken double-digit rises in declared defense budgets being used to modernize ships, planes and weapons. Many analysts believe China's real level of military spending is significantly higher.

GLOBAL GROWTH IN CONTEXT:

- The United States accounts for almost half the world's total military spending. President Barack Obama has said he will seek roughly $534 billion for the Pentagon's core budget in the fiscal year 2010, not including war funding, about 4 percent more than the $513.3 billion Congress provided for 2009.

TRANSPARENCY:

- China's biannual defense white papers have become increasingly detailed since the first was issued in 2000.

- The United States and Japan in particular are nonetheless concerned that China's military build-up lacks transparency and that Beijing has not adequately explained the purpose of its military expansion.

Sources: Reuters, International Institute for Strategic Studies.

($1=6.830 Yuan)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Dean Yates)