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The US spends $600B annually on defence, and China spends $130B. Multiplying by 3.5 still doesn't close the gap...

by vacri 11y ago

seanmcdirmid 11y ago
China's security concerns are also focused inwards (protecting the party from rebellion, unhappy minorities in the west, semi-hostile neighbors), preventing it from projecting much power outside of China.
- westiseast 11y ago
  They're starting to realize now that by projecting power externally you can keep all the minorities and malcontents placated with nationalism </cynicism>
  - seanmcdirmid 11y ago
    Nationalism doesn't work well for Uighurs or Tibetans. Nationalism plays more to the poorer Han majority in the east.
dm2 11y ago
They got trillions worth of defense for free by hacking the US also. You can't blame them at all for doing that though, if someone or another country has some technology or information that the US wants and can't access then I'm sure we would employ similar (or much more devastating) techniques to acquire it.
Xixi 11y ago
I didn't explain myself clearly: if China had a comparable GDP per capita as Japan, its GDP would be 3.5x bigger than that of US. But currently China GDP per capita is 10x smaller than that of Japan ($3600 vs $37500). $130B times ten would bring China defense budget to a staggering $1300B. $1300B is quite a bit more than $600B, but indeed not 3.5x more. Two factors are at play: US defense budget is larger in scope than that of China (for instance, if I remember correctly, most rocketry stuff fall under defense budget in US, but not in China), and China just doesn't spend as much (as a percentage of GDP) as US for its defense. Again, China has a very very long way to go.
random_coder 11y ago
What Xixi says is that when China's GDP per capita matches that of Japan, it's economy will be 3.5x as big as US's. A similar percentage in budget for defence as that of US would then mean 3.5 x 600B. Nothing to do with China's current GDP or her current defence budget.

The US spends $600B annually on defence, and China spends $130B. Multiplying by 3.5 still doesn't close the gap...

by vacri 11y ago

The US spends $600B annually on defence, and China spends $130B. Multiplying by 3.5 still doesn't close the gap...

China's security concerns are also focused inwards (protecting the party from rebellion, unhappy minorities in the west, semi-hostile neighbors), preventing it from projecting much power outside of China.

westiseast 11y ago
They're starting to realize now that by projecting power externally you can keep all the minorities and malcontents placated with nationalism </cynicism>
- seanmcdirmid 11y ago
  Nationalism doesn't work well for Uighurs or Tibetans. Nationalism plays more to the poorer Han majority in the east.

dm2 11y ago

They got trillions worth of defense for free by hacking the US also. You can't blame them at all for doing that though, if someone or another country has some technology or information that the US wants and can't access then I'm sure we would employ similar (or much more devastating) techniques to acquire it.

Xixi 11y ago

I didn't explain myself clearly: if China had a comparable GDP per capita as Japan, its GDP would be 3.5x bigger than that of US. But currently China GDP per capita is 10x smaller than that of Japan ($3600 vs $37500). $130B times ten would bring China defense budget to a staggering $1300B. $1300B is quite a bit more than $600B, but indeed not 3.5x more. Two factors are at play: US defense budget is larger in scope than that of China (for instance, if I remember correctly, most rocketry stuff fall under defense budget in US, but not in China), and China just doesn't spend as much (as a percentage of GDP) as US for its defense. Again, China has a very very long way to go.

random_coder 11y ago

What Xixi says is that when China's GDP per capita matches that of Japan, it's economy will be 3.5x as big as US's. A similar percentage in budget for defence as that of US would then mean 3.5 x 600B. Nothing to do with China's current GDP or her current defence budget.