Fu Ying, spokesperson for the first session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), speaks at the news conference on the first session of the 12th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2013. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

BEIJING - China's defensive military policies have played a core role in maintaining peace and stability in Asia, a spokesperson for the annual session of China's national legislature said here Monday.

"China's peaceful foreign policies and its defensive military policies are conducive to security and peace of Asia," Fu Ying, spokesperson for the first session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), told a press conference.

Fu made the comments in response to a question about China's defense budget in 2013, but the former vice minister of Foreign Affairs broke with past tradition of revealing the figure at the press conference, which is held one day before NPC's annual session.