BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao offered fulsome praise for the People's Liberation Army ahead of its 80th anniversary, in a strong show of support for the continued modernization of the world's largest military.

"The PLA, led by the Communist Party of China, is an army of the people and a pillar of the nation," Hu was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency on Friday while touring an exhibition of the PLA's achievements and history.

The remarks came just days after the country's defense minister pledged renewed loyalty to the ruling Communist Party and dismissed any notion of placing the army under government control.

Unlike earlier party chiefs, Hu and other current leaders have no military background, but have strongly supported annual double-digit percentage increases in the defense budget.

Official military spending rose by 17.8 percent in 2007 to 350.92 billion yuan (US$44.94 billion; euro34.14 billion), the biggest jump in more than a decade. The United States and others suggest real spending may be two to three times higher.

While China claims most of the increases go to improving soldiers' welfare, the PLA this year announced a series of breakthroughs in military technology including the ability to produce latest-generation fighter jets, aircraft engines and advanced air-to-air missiles.

China also announced earlier this month it was rolling out sleeker uniforms for the PLA, updating the plain, baggy green with red and gold insignia uniforms that had changed little in more than two decades since China opened up its economy and relaxed social controls.

The PLA, the world's largest standing army with 2.3 million members, traces its roots to the Red Army, established by Mao Zedong in the party's early years to foment revolution and fend off attacks from Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists.

It furthered that legacy by battling Japanese invaders in World War II and U.S. troops in the Korean War, but its reputation later suffered from corruption and the use of troops to crush pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

A five-minute report on state television news showed a casually dressed Hu -- also general secretary of the party -- looking at tanks and missiles while questioning soldiers.

Other top leaders who visited the exhibition with Hu on Thursday night included the party's No. 2 and No. 3 ranking officials -- top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao.

"They were especially attracted by the pictures of former leaders Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, who paid paid much attention to the armed forces and national defense," it said.