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China's booming military spending belies caution

9 Comments

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What a colossal waste of money and material, on all sides.

Can somebody please explain to me what the big deal is? Some islands? Some national pride? Past grievances? I'm pretty sure the 20th century proved to everyone, once and for all, that military adventurism is far less pleasant than economic prosperity.

China needs to shut up and drink about seven beers and calm down. So do the U.S. and Japan, for that matter. And Russia.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Looking at the numbers Japan's military seems just fine right now. What this article fails to state is that China's entire military cannot commit to a single engagement. Much of the military is committed to full-time policing duties inside China, and the country has Russia to the north (who would just LOVE a chance to take a chunk out of China), India to the West (who probably wouldn't attack unprovoked, but would use any weakness to cement their claims on disputed territories), the Philippines to the South (who would definitely seize any opportunity to reclaim territory that China annexed recently), etc.

In short, China has made enemies with almost every country around it, including a couple who's economies and militaries are simply too large and powerful to ignore. So these sort of simplistic comparisons are useless. The real issue is how many planes, ships, men, etc, China could free up once we subtract all the troops committed to securing China's massive land area. Realistically the answer is perhaps 10% (at best - this is based on the U.S. military, which does not use its military for policing at home).

So look at that infographic again, but this time divide all the Chinese numbers by 10. This means that Japan has an overwhelming numerical advantage in the likely areas of conflict (air and sea), and an invasion of any sort is ludicrously unlikely unless China wants to expose its back to unfriendly powers and suddenly be fighting a war on 4 or even 5 fronts.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The Chinese military also has the job of murdering Chinese citizens who protest the unelected Chinese dictatorship. The Chinese dictatorship is keen that we do not forget past events, so let's remember that it is almost 25 years ago now that the Chinese army massacred Chinese civilians in Tiananmen Square.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@gokai_wo_manaku:

China does have the largest military in terms of manpower and equipment. The U.S. is the second or third largest. The fact is that the U.S. spends more on defense than the next 12-15 countries combined. So China does have the largest military. The U.S. b as the largest military budget.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just to repeat Randy, the US military is larger than ALL of the world's militaries combined according to what I have read. Why does this article say China has the world's largest military?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

This article is not helpful, because China will modernize their military forces eventually. Japan has to be prepared, now.

That means increasing the military budget from 1% to 1.5-2% of GDP with a focus on modernizing/increasing the number of assets in their the navy and air force.

It also means acquiring offensive capabilities so it is not so dependent on a US who might not want to fight China and bankrupt itself in the process for the Senkaku islands.

Japan needs to ratify collective self-defense, then get rid of article 9. Peace is won through strength, not weakness.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

First the USofA spends more on its military than the next ten to dozen countries combined. Add to that Japan's military there is little to fear from China's huge body count of military members, unless they develop a Star Trek human transporter! Any troop ships heading to Japan would be sent to Davy Jones' Locker by Japan's very stealth attack submarines.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Its a bit misleading to say that China has the world's biggest military. It has the most populous military. A large pack of guys with second rate training and equipment. And it seems the best they can do is snipe unarmed pilgrims trying to enter Tibet.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

i have a modern upgrade to Sun Tzu's famous quote: "the battle is already won before you enter the battlefield. there is NO battlefield"

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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