China shows off helicopter

EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL

The Chinese government gave foreign journalists a rare tour of a military base in Beijing.

Officers showed off the airforce's new elite multi-purpose Z-9 helicopter.

International concerns have grown recently over China's increasing military muscle-- especially in the South China Sea -- where China has asserted its sovereignty claims over a group of islands that Vietnam, the Philippines and China all claim as their own.

Chinese officials have raised the stakes by declaring of one islands a Chinese city.

Over the weekend, officials announced they would begin stationing troops on the island, and formally christened it during a ceremony.

But back in Beijing, when asked if those troops deployed to the island city would have Z-9 helicopters, officials remained vague.

(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) UNNAMED AIRFORCE CAPTAIN SAYING:

"I think if we need to be deployed, we should be able to deploy ourselves at a moment's notice. As for other (concerns), it is not convenient for me to answer your questions for now."

China is boosting military spending by 11.2 percent this year with a near-unbroken string of double-digit rises in military spending each year for the past two decades.

Even still, foreign experts widely believe China's official military budget underestimates its actual spending.

Julie Noce, Reuters