Western media expose themselves by hyping China’s defense budget

Most of the reactions against the increase in China’s military budget this year are nothing but clichés influenced by the “China threat” theory. Although some Western media outlets have mentioned in their reports that the 7 percent increase in China’s military budget this year is the lowest in years, they still took a critical stand against China.

Their criticisms are largely centered on China’s alleged lack of military transparency and ambiguous strategic intention. Some, quoting so-called Western experts, even went to the extent of speculating that there are hidden budget overlays.

In recent years, China’s defense budget, compared with those of other countries, has drawn excessive attention from overseas, especially Western media outlets. Worse, such unusual interest has been coupled with wild speculations and suspicion, which cannot possibly help the outside world to properly analyze why China is forced to increase its military spending.

No one can deny that China’s military budget is neither the largest nor the fastest growing in the world. Just days before China announced its annual defense budget, US President Donald Trump sought a 10 percent hike in the US’ military spending. Strangely, some Western media reports mentioned the US figure while highlighting China’s defense budget, without questioning the US’ strategic intention of having a defense budget which is three times bigger than China’s.

... China is justified in spending a moderate percentage of its GDP to modernize its military.