Will China Spend the US into Oblivion?

[Wakie]

An interesting thought came to me after hearing that China just upped their military spending by 17.8%.  Is China planning on taking advantage of the US over committment to try to spend the US into oblivion the way the US did to the USSR?

With the massive trade deficit we have with them one has to wonder if it is possible for them to do so.

[minionofmidas]

Uh... they'd have to crank their military spending up by more like 178% a year for a couple a years to even start thinking of that.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Likelier that China will spend Taiwan into submission.  It certainly is part of the reason that China is spending more.  Another is that with the growth in the economy, they have to increase soldier pay or run the risk of having a very discontented PLA and more importantly a discontented PAP.

[Tender Branson]

An interesting thought came to me after hearing that China just upped their military spending by 17.8%.  Is China planning on taking advantage of the US over committment to try to spend the US into oblivion the way the US did to the USSR?

With the massive trade deficit we have with them one has to wonder if it is possible for them to do so.

Not likely. The US just hiked the defense spending by about 5-10%, which is (in absolute terms) more than the whole (official) Chinese Defense Budget. It´s a different kind of thing if you raise a 670 Bio. $ Budget by 10% or a 45 Bio. Budget by 18%. At least in the next 30 years China will never be able to compete with the spending of the US Military, IMO.

Easier Comparison:

Official Defense Expenditures per Capita 2007/08:

US: 1.600$ per person (about 2.200$ with Wars, Homeland Dept. etc.)

China: 35$ per person (about 100$ - unofficial Pentagon estimate)

[MODU]

While it would be the most likely strategy for China (much like what we did to Russia), China's economy is not strong enough to sustain it.  The US can currently dwarf most any nation based upon spending power longevity.  My guess would be that China's economy could sustain a massive military program for roughly 10 years at their current economic condition before having to scale back and/or sell components off.

[Jacobtm]

Meanwhile, a fat kid down the block increased his time for a mile run from 30 minutes to 26, an astounding 20% increase. Olympians beware.