China’s Military Expenditure Breaks the Trillion Reasonable Growth, Firmly Responding to External Challenges In recent years, China’s military expenditure has exceeded the trillion yuan mark, and the news has aroused widespread concern in the international community. The U.S. Secretary of Defense also made a rare statement that the U.S. does not seek war with China. Behind this statement, what strategic considerations are hidden? China’s military spending growth, and what does it mean? First of all, let’s take a look at China’s military expenditures exceeded one trillion dollars in the end is a what level. From the global military expenditure ranking, the United States military expenditure is far ahead, reaching 886 billion dollars, while China’s military expenditure is 231.3 billion dollars, far below the United States. Russia’s military spending is $120 billion, India’s is $76.2 billion, and Japan’s is $55.9 billion. It can be seen that although China’s military spending has increased, it has not stepped into the extreme of an arms race and still falls within the range of reasonable growth.
China’s Military Spending Surpasses Trillion Dollars Reasonable Growth, Firmly Responding to External Challenges
In recent years, China’s military spending has exceeded the trillion yuan mark, a news that has attracted widespread attention from the international community. The U.S. Secretary of Defense also made a rare statement that the U.S. does not seek war with China. Behind this statement, what kind of strategic considerations are hidden? What does the increase in China’s military spending mean?
First of all, let’s take a look at China’s military expenditures exceeded one trillion dollars in the end is a what level. From the global military expenditure ranking, the United States military expenditure is far ahead, reaching 886 billion dollars, while China’s military expenditure is 231.3 billion dollars, far below the United States. Russia’s military spending is $120 billion, India’s is $76.2 billion, and Japan’s is $55.9 billion. It can be seen that although China’s military spending has increased, it has not stepped into the extreme of an arms race and still falls within the range of reasonable growth.
In addition to the absolute value, the ratio of military expenditure to GDP is also an important indicator. China’s military spending as a percentage of GDP is about 1.3, much lower than the U.S.’s 3.39, and even lower than the minimum standard for NATO members.2 This suggests that China’s military development is still at a low level. This shows that China’s military development still maintains the principle of defensiveness and is not heading towards a full-scale arms race. From the perspective of per capita military expenditure, China’s per capita military expenditure is also far below the level of developed countries and even lower than the global average. This suggests that China’s military spending growth is not for the purpose of expansion, but rather to make up for its own shortcomings in national defense.
So what is the core reason for China’s military spending growth? It is mainly to respond to external challenges. In recent years, the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region has increased dramatically, posing unprecedented challenges to China’s security environment. The U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region has reached 400,000 troops, covering Japan South Korea the Philippines and other places. On the issue of Taiwan, the United States has frequently played the Taiwan card by selling large quantities of weapons to Taiwan, and its warships have continuously traversed the Taiwan Strait. In addition, the United States has also deployed offensive weapons, such as the SAD anti-missile system and long-range missiles, in the vicinity of China, and joined hands with its allies to build an anti-China military alliance. In the face of such external pressure, China must improve its military strength to ensure national security.
China’s military spending is not just about building up its military strength, but also about modernizing and modernizing its technology. In the navy, China’s aircraft carrier, the Type 055 destroyer, and a new generation of nuclear submarines are constantly being developed, and their combat capability has been greatly improved. In the air force, the J-20 stealth fighter has entered mass service, hypersonic weapons technology is leading the way, and intelligent equipment for drones is developing rapidly. The army and strategic support forces are also undergoing rapid transformation, with information technology, unmanned intelligent equipment as the core, and gradually improving electromagnetic weapons and artificial intelligence-assisted command systems.
This series of arms development shows that China’s military spending is not increasing for the sake of expansion, but to ensure national security and prevent other countries from interfering. So why did the U.S. Secretary of Defense suddenly say he was afraid to go to war with China? There are multiple reasons behind this.
First, the US military cannot afford an all-out war with China. The U.S. military power is decentralized around the world, not only to face the challenge of China in the Asia-Pacific, but also to support Ukraine in Europe to hold Iran in check in the Middle East and so on. Its military resources have been severely depleted, and logistical and supply problems are becoming increasingly prominent. In contrast, China has an extremely stable supply chain for local operations and a strong anti-intervention and area denial capability, making it much more difficult for U.S. forces to operate in China’s neighborhood.
Second, the balance of nuclear deterrence is also an important factor. China has always adhered to a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, but this does not mean that its nuclear deterrence is insufficient. In recent years, China’s nuclear buildup has accelerated significantly, and it has a real secondary nuclear strike capability. This means that even if the U.S. military has the upper hand in a conventional war, it cannot afford the risk of escalating a nuclear war.
To summarize, China’s military spending growth is a response to the real security environment, not a signal to provoke conflict. The ultimate goal of increased military power is still to maintain peace and stability. How China and the U.S. find ways to avoid conflict and maintain stability in future international games will be the focus of global attention. China will continue to adhere to its defensive national defense policy, promote the in-depth development of civil-military integration, and make greater contributions to the maintenance of world peace and stability.
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