China's Increasing Military Spending
Austin Vowels
China Plans Steep Increase in Military Spending
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/world/asia/05china.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
March 5, 2008
This article raises some important questions about American Foreign Policy, and the direction it will take in the future. As of now, the US is a super power, more than twice as powerful as any other nation. How long will this trend continue? The recent trends in countries like China, Japan, and Russia are changing the global climate, bit by bit.
This article of which this is a commentary on specifically shows one aspect of how the global climate is changing: military build up in China. While, as the article states, China is still spending less on military than most other countries, and that they are also increasing spending by significant margins (17%+) for two years in a role now, it should also be known that there is another aspect to consider in this issue, the value that China could be buying with this increase. Currently, many economists are advising that the Yen needs to be reevaluated (including presidential candidate advisors).[1] So could China be building even more of a Defense than we suspect? Bit by bit, China is becoming more powerful militarily, as they also have economically.
With Japan and Russia both building economically, the power grasp the US has is slipping. Japan has built economically for the past 50 years via US protection from the security agreement. The US is currently turning toward Russia for its natural gas supply. These are all ways showing how the US power is diminishing. Considering that most states only maintain dominate power of the world for about a century, this article and other current trends are hinting that the US may follow this trend and lose its super power status in the future.
[1] Council on Foreign Relations. The Candidates on US Policy toward China. February 2008. http://www.cfr.org/publication/14759/candidates_on_us_policy_toward_china.html
China Plans Steep Increase in Military Spending
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/world/asia/05china.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
March 5, 2008
This article raises some important questions about American Foreign Policy, and the direction it will take in the future. As of now, the US is a super power, more than twice as powerful as any other nation. How long will this trend continue? The recent trends in countries like China, Japan, and Russia are changing the global climate, bit by bit.
This article of which this is a commentary on specifically shows one aspect of how the global climate is changing: military build up in China. While, as the article states, China is still spending less on military than most other countries, and that they are also increasing spending by significant margins (17%+) for two years in a role now, it should also be known that there is another aspect to consider in this issue, the value that China could be buying with this increase. Currently, many economists are advising that the Yen needs to be reevaluated (including presidential candidate advisors).[1] So could China be building even more of a Defense than we suspect? Bit by bit, China is becoming more powerful militarily, as they also have economically.
With Japan and Russia both building economically, the power grasp the US has is slipping. Japan has built economically for the past 50 years via US protection from the security agreement. The US is currently turning toward Russia for its natural gas supply. These are all ways showing how the US power is diminishing. Considering that most states only maintain dominate power of the world for about a century, this article and other current trends are hinting that the US may follow this trend and lose its super power status in the future.
[1] Council on Foreign Relations. The Candidates on US Policy toward China. February 2008. http://www.cfr.org/publication/14759/candidates_on_us_policy_toward_china.html
posted by Austin P. Vowels at 6:14 PM
1 Comments:
According to Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press (2007) the United States too is pursuing capabilities that would make weapons more lethal and accurate, resulting in nuclear imbalance of power, which is would exacerbate America’s rivalry with China. America’s growing attempts to pursue greater nuclear capabilities reflects its concern with China as an emerging power. In 2006, the Pentagon made the following statement: “Of the major and emerging powers, China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States”.
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