Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Friday, May 28th, 2021

China could soon outgun the U.S.

Author:     JACQUELINE DEAL
Source:     Politico
Publication Date:     05/27/2021 08:30 AM EDT
 Link: China could soon outgun the U.S.
Stephan:   The United States may spend more on its military than the next 10 nations combined. But there doesn't mean it has given us the best military in the world. The subject is much more complicated than it looks in most superficial profiles. This report, based on real data, shows that for all that money the U.S. military is no longer the modern military one would expect it to be, and that has major geopolitical implications.
U.S. DoD procurement outlays vs. PLA procurement value. Note: Dashed lines indicate projections using 2000-2019 CAGRs. | Credit: LTSG, DoD FY 2021 Green Book

Welcome, China Watchers. This week’s guest host is Jacqueline Deal, senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, co-founder of the American Academy for Strategic Education and president of LTSG, a defense consultancy. She’s been tracking China’s military buildup for two decades and has testified frequently before the congressional U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission.Over to you, Jackie. — John Yearwood, global news editor

The People’s Liberation Army is the oft-cited but poorly understood “pacing threat” during U.S. debates about the defense budget, which the White House will release Friday. Though Pentagon officials since the Obama administration have called the Chinese military the U.S.’s most capable rival, data about what China has actually been spending, or what it’s bought, remains scarce. Research into Chinese defense investments since 2000 reveals that, compared with the United States, China has […]

Read the Full Article