BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s 2021 defence spending will rise 6.8% from 2020, up only slightly from last year’s budgeted increase, marking the sixth year in a row of single-digit growth, roughly in line with the annual economic growth target of more than 6%.

The figure, set at 1.35 trillion yuan ($208.47 billion) in the national budget released on Friday, is closely watched as a barometer of how aggressively the country will beef up its military.

Last year China said defence spending would rise just 6.6%, its slowest rate in three decades, as the economy wilted in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Premier Li Keqiang, in his state-of-the-nation address to the largely rubber-stamp legislature, said this year the government would strengthen the armed forces “through reform, science and technology and the training of capable personnel”.

“We will boost military training and preparedness across the board, make overall plans for responding to security risks in all areas and for all situations, and enhance the military’s strategic capacity to protect the sovereignty, security and development interests of our country,” Li said in a government translation of his remarks.

“We will improve the layout of the defence-related science, technology and industry, and enhance the defence mobilisation system,” he added, without giving details.

China routinely says that spending for defensive purposes is a comparatively low percentage of its GDP and that critics want to “contain” the country and demonize it as a threat to world peace.

The budget gives only a raw figure for military expenditure, with no breakdown. Many diplomats and foreign experts believe the country under-reports the real number.

China’s reported defence budget in 2021 is about a quarter of U.S. defence spending.

U.S. defence spending amounted to $714 billion in fiscal year 2020 and is expected to increase to $733 billion in the 2021 fiscal year.

($1 = 6.4758 renminbi)