BEIJING — China will "seriously consider" building its first aircraft carrier, the Ministry of National Defense said in another sign of Beijing's expanding military ambitions.

An aircraft carrier is "a symbol of a country's overall national strength as well as the competitiveness of the country's naval force," said ministry spokesman Senior Col. Huang Xueping. He said China must ensure its maritime security and sovereignty but gave no timetable for launching such a vessel.

China's navy usually stays close to its shores, though the government said Tuesday that it will send three ships to the Indian Ocean to deter pirate attacks on Chinese vessels.

An aircraft carrier would allow China's navy to fight farther out at sea by providing air cover in places that land-based planes cannot reach. Military analysts see a Chinese aircraft carrier mainly as a deterrent to U.S. intervention in a possible conflict over Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.

"The Chinese government will take into overall account all of the relevant factors and seriously consider the relevant issue," Huang said at a news conference in response to question about whether the time was right for China to build an aircraft carrier.

China's neighbors have been closely watching its possible ambitions to extend the reach of its military as defense spending has grown by double-digit rates in recent years.

Beijing's reported military budget this year was($58.76 billion up 17.6 percent from 2007.

An aircraft carrier also could give Beijing an edge in any conflict over the South China Sea, where it has conflicting claims with neighboring governments.

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush's foreign policies may be unpopular in the Middle East, but Arab leaders showered his top diplomat with jewelry worth far more than a quarter of a million dollars last year.While Bush himself didn't fare nearly as well, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raked in at least $316,000 in gem-encrusted baubles from the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia alone, making her one of top recipients among U.S. officials of gifts from foreign heads of state and government and their aides in 2007.In January, Jordan's King Abdullah II gave Rice an emerald and diamond necklace, ring, bracelet and earrings estimated to be worth $147,000, according to the State Department's annual inventory of such items released Monday just in time for Christmas.The king and his wife, Queen Rania, also gave Rice a less expensive necklace and earrings along with a jewelry box valued at $4,630, the document shows.