According to a new report released on Monday, China is leading a trend of increasing defense spending among Asia's major military powers in recent years.

The report released by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, showed that defense spending by China and four other Asian countries doubled over the previous decade and is expected to surpass that of the entire Europe this year.

The report included China, Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan in the region, which account for 87 per cent of the total defense spending in Asia. The report said that the number of troops remained stable but the annual spending on defense related activities rose to US$224 billion during the previous year. Defense spending significantly rose in the second half of the previous decade.

China's share of the total spending increased 20 per cent in 2000 to 40 per cent in the previous year. China's official defence spending last year was US$89.9 billion, followed by Japan with US$58.2 billion, and India with US$37 billion. However, it is believed that the official figures in some countries could be understated to a large extent.

The total defense related spending in the United Sates was still much higher than that in Asia. The annual US defense spending in the US rose to US$670 billion this year. The figure is double the level of defense spending by the country in 2001.