Story highlights Most analysts believe China has the second largest military budget in the world

The report suggests China may build military bases in places like Pakistan

(CNN) China is likely to build more foreign military bases and continue boosting defense spending in the coming years, according to a new annual Pentagon report on Chinese military and security developments.

The report was published days after top US defense and foreign policy officials traveled to Asia as part of a bid to reassure traditional US allies concerned over Beijing's increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea.

The Pentagon's 97-page assessment, published Tuesday, noted that China's official military budget had grown an average of 8.5% from 2007 to 2016, and that "Chinese leaders seem committed to increases in defense spending for the foreseeable future, even as China's economic growth slows."

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Most analysts believe China has the second largest military budget in the world, ranking only behind the US.

The increased spending along with a number of recent military reforms is part of a "modernization" effort aimed at improving the Chinese military's "ability to fight short-duration, high-intensity regional conflicts at greater distances from the Chinese mainland," according to the report.

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