BEIJING, March 7 -- In 2021, China's defense expenditure will continue to maintain a moderate and steady growth with an increase of 6.8% over the previous year, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Delegation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) Force to the 4th session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), in an interview with the press today.

According to the spokesperson, the increased defense expenditure will be mainly used in four areas: First, to ensure the launch of major projects and key programs in accordance with the layout of the "14th Five-Year Plan" for Chinese military construction; second, to accelerate the upgrading of armaments and promote the weaponry modernization drive; third, to quicken the transformation of military training, build a new-type military personnel training system, and improve and perfect training support conditions; fourth, conforming to the level of national economic and social development, to improve the lives and welfare of service members and support the military’s grass-root construction.