BEIJING, Mar. 5 (Reuters) - China will boost its defence spending by 7.2% this year, maintaining a steady growth rate as Beijing faces headwinds from three years of sluggish economic expansion amid mounting geopolitical challenges from Taiwan to Ukraine.

The increase, announced on Wednesday in a government report due to be released in parliament, matches last year's figure.

It remains well above China's economic growth target for this year of roughly 5% - which analysts say was expected and reflected Beijing's ambitions for continued military modernisation amid roiling geopolitical challenges.

Since Xi became president and commander-in-chief more than a decade ago, the defence budget has ballooned to 1.78 trillion yuan ($245.65 billion) this year from 720 billion yuan in 2013.

Xi aims to complete full military modernisation by 2035, with China's military developing new missiles, ships, submarines and surveillance technologies.

At the same time, the military is trying to improve combat readiness through more rigorous training and drills, according to official reports - many of which involve Taiwan scenarios.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies noted in a survey in February of the world's militaries that given China's wider economic constraints, "authorities face increasingly sharp questions about which areas to prioritise".

The military budget increase comes despite numerous corruption scandals affecting the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the past two years that have felled two former defence ministers and a Central Military Commission member.

China remains the world's second-biggest military spender behind the United States, whose proposed military budget for 2025 is $850 billion.

Photo from Reuters