A spokesperson for the annual session of China's top legislature Monday defended the growing budget of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by saying that a strong Chinese military will contribute to regional stability and world peace, while refuting the idea that China's foreign policy is turning "aggressive."

Fu Ying, spokesperson for the first session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), made the remarks at a press conference a day before the opening of the session.

Responding to a question about the country's planned military expenditure in 2013, Fu did not reveal the figure of the defense budget as her predecessor always did, but explained why China keeps increasing its military spending.

She said the Chinese people have a bitter memory of past humiliations that were caused by weak defense capabilities, so they need a solid defense.

"We strengthen our defense forces to safeguard ourselves, security and peace, instead of threatening other countries," said Fu, noting that China's peaceful foreign policies and defensive military policies contribute to regional security and peace, which makes Asia "attractive."

According to a final report on the implementation of the 2011 central government budget, China's defense spending reached nearly 583 billion yuan ($93.4 billion) in 2011, rising by 12.6 percent compared with the previous year.

Last year, China's defense budget was set at more than 670 billion yuan.

Major General Peng Guangqian, a military strategist at the PLA Academy of Military Science, told the Global Times that some of the spending was used to add new weaponry and update existing equipment.

Yin Zhuo, director of the Chinese Navy Advisory Committee for Informatization and a member to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Monday told Xinhua that due to rapid economic growth and inflation, the double-digit growth in China's military spending in recent years was reasonable.

He said that defense expenditure would take up between 1.6 percent and 1.8 percent of China's GDP during the period between 2011 and 2015, still lower than that of other powers.

China has not been the only country in the region to increase military spending. Japan is planning to raise its defense budget and recruit more servicemen, citing concerns over security in the region.

Peng noted that China should be vigilant in this area.

"Increasing its budget is no big deal, but Japan needs to clarify the reason. As it is edging toward a rightist path, the hike in spending is not a normal move, and it might be dangerous for the region," Peng said.

While responding to a question from Japan's Kyodo News on whether China's foreign policy will continue to be "aggressive" while it is building itself into a maritime power, Fu, who is also China's vice foreign minister, insisted that China would continue on a path of peaceful development while pursuing the status of being a sea power.

Jia Qingguo, an associate dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University and former CPPCC member, told the Global Times that current tensions over the East China Sea and the South China Sea began in 2009 after the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf set a deadline for submitting claims for extended continental shelves.

The suspicion over whether China would take an "aggressive" foreign policy has since risen as neighboring countries, who have overlapping territorial claims with China, did not know what a stronger China would do to settle the problems, Jia said.

According to Fu, it is not a surprise that other countries would presume that a country would seek hegemony once it gets stronger, especially in the case of China, which has a different political system compared with them.

She reassured the world that China would insist upon its peaceful foreign policies, but acknowledged that most Chinese people are hoping that China will take a tougher stance in the face of provocations.

As for the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands, Fu stressed that Japan should be blamed for the row, and that Japan had failed to engage in negotiations.

If a country chose to take a tough position and dropped the consensus it reached with China, then China would take corresponding measures, Fu said.