The Chinese Military Budget vs The U.S. might not be as low as you think.

First the U.S. is afraid of China’s military spending and now people are not afraid anymore because they figure the U.S.’s spending is ten times higher than the Chinese. Actually it is six times higher shown in the chart below. You can find this and other related figures in this World Military Spending article.

To reiterate this general view, George Bush once regarded China as ‘Strategy Competitor’ has since changed his stance to be ‘Strategy Competitor’. You can read the full report from Foreign Policy Research Institute site.

A Chinese general once said the U.S. Military Spending is ten times bigger than us. If the U.S. is afraid then they must lack courage.

However the REAL Chinese spending might not be as low as you think. The above chart shows in 2008 China’s Military Spending is $USD122M vs. the U.S. $USD711M. Roughly this is 1 to 6 ratios. The problem with this is the figures are in US dollar. According to wikipedia I figure the average salary in the U.S. is nothing below $USD 1000/month. However in China we are talking about $USD100-300/month. $100 if you are a factory worker and $300 if you are lucky enough to work in an office.

So while $USD1000 can pay for less than one U.S solder, you can get ten in China. Similarly you can feed your solder and provide them with accommodation much cheaper in China. So instead of 1 to 6 ratios, it could be China 2 vs. U.S. 1. China is actually spending more than the U.S. on military. Ok so you can not get the state of the art technology in China no matter what you pay. But you can get a cheap clone for a fifth of the price. One F16 might not have enough missiles to shoot down five Chinese cheap fighter jets.