General Cao Gangchuan, the Chinese defence minister, on Wednesday strongly rejected claims by Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, that China spends much more on defence than the official $30bn budget.

Gen Cao dismissed Pentagon assertions that China may be spending as much as $90bn on defence. Standing with Mr Rumsfeld following their meeting at the Ministry of Defence, Mr Cao said it “was necessary and not possible” for China to massively increase its defence spending. He added that the $30bn figure for Chinese defence spending was the “true budget”.