Recently, authoritative British media released an in-depth report on the military spending of major countries in the world in 2023.
Unlike previous ones, the report abandons the traditional method of calculating the US dollar exchange rate and adopts a more objective standard of purchasing power parity, revealing for us the new face of military spending by various countries and the underlying logic behind it.
In the report, China's military spending under purchasing power parity standards has increased by an unprecedented 132.4 percent.
This figure not only represents a significant jump in China's military spending, but also reflects the vigorous development of China's national defense construction and its firm pursuit of military modernization.
The British media pointed out that due to the huge differences in the currencies of various countries, the use of the dollar exchange rate does not truly reflect the actual purchasing power of military spending.
As a result, they have used purchasing power evaluation criteria to provide a more accurate picture of the actual state of military spending in each country.
In contrast, the United States is still the world's largest military spender under the US dollar exchange rate standard, with military spending reaching $916 billion in 2023.
However, under the standard of purchasing power parity, the growth of US military spending appears to be stagnant.
This is mainly due to the high cost of personnel salaries, infrastructure construction and equipment procurement in the US military, resulting in relatively low real purchasing power.
This phenomenon not only reflects the sheer scale of US military spending, but also exposes the high costs and inefficiencies behind it.
China's military spending has risen by more than 100% under purchasing power parity standards, a staggering figure that has undoubtedly attracted widespread attention around the world. This also shows the strong growth momentum of China's military spending and the rapid development of national defense construction.
At the same time, there is also a joke on the Internet that the spending power of Chinese smokers is enough to support China's military spending.
Although this is just a joke, it also reflects the huge scale of China's military spending and the people's support for national defense construction.
After in-depth analysis, foreign media believe that the reason why China has been able to achieve such a high cost-effectiveness ratio in military spending.
This is mainly due to the following advantages: low labor costs, significant economies of scale, and a well-established and large industrial system.
The combination of these factors has led to the development of China's national defense, which has enabled China to obtain more human resources and productivity with the same capital investment, thereby improving the efficiency of the use of military spending.
Specifically, China has the largest active military in the world, with a total PLA size of 2 million.
This large military size not only provides China with a strong defense force, but also brings significant economies of scale.
By effectively amortizing fixed costs, such as infrastructure and training facilities, China is able to use military spending more efficiently and improve its overall defense capabilities.
At the same time, China also has a well-developed and large industrial system, which allows most of the weapons and equipment to be independently developed and produced.
This advantage not only reduces dependence on high-priced foreign military equipment, but also significantly reduces procurement costs.
China's self-developed capabilities allow it to tailor equipment to its own needs, improving the effectiveness and targeting of military spending.
In terms of raw material procurement, China also has a unique advantage. China has abundant natural resources and a well-established industrial chain, which makes China's raw material procurement more affordable and complete. This advantage has further reduced the cost of purchasing weapons and equipment and improved the economic efficiency of China's national defense construction.
Taking the land, sea and air weapons of China and the United States as examples, we can more intuitively see the cost-effectiveness advantage of China's military spending.
In terms of the Air Force, the purchase price of China's J-20 fighter is much lower than that of the US F-35 stealth fighter.
However, in terms of performance, the J-20 has shown equal or even superior strength to the F-35.
This comparison fully demonstrates the efficiency and economy of the Chinese Air Force in the use of military spending.
On the army side, the price of the Chinese 99A main battle tank and VT-5 light tank is also much lower than that of the new light tank M10 of the US army.
However, in terms of performance, these two Chinese tanks are comparable to or even superior to the M10.
This comparison once again proves the efficiency and pertinence of the Chinese Army's use of military spending.
In terms of the navy, the cost of China's 052D and 055 large drives is also much lower than that of the U.S. Arleigh Burke-3 destroyers.
However, in terms of combat capability and comprehensive performance, these two Chinese destroyers have shown comparable or even superior strength to the Arleigh Burke 3.
This comparison undoubtedly highlights once again the efficiency and economy of the Chinese Navy in the use of military spending.
However, although China's military spending has achieved significant growth under the standard of purchasing power parity and has demonstrated an efficient cost-effectiveness advantage, the view of foreign media that China's military spending will surpass that of the United States remains to be discussed.
Because the analysis of the British media is based on the factor of purchasing power parity, not on the actual expenditure in dollar terms.
In fact, when converted into US dollars, China's military spending is only 24 percent of that of the United States, and there is still a big gap between it and US military spending.
This gap is not only reflected in the total military spending, but also in the comprehensive strength of the two countries in terms of military technology, global military deployment, and military alliance system.
China's defense budget is based on the actual needs of defense and military development, rather than pursuing the same level of military spending as the United States.
China has always adhered to the path of peaceful development and is committed to maintaining world peace and stability.
Therefore, China's defense budget is limited and focused, and is designed to safeguard the country's core security and interests.
China has demonstrated that it is efficient and economical in the use of military spending, and only needs to maintain a certain standard of military spending to maintain a strong advantage in safeguarding national security and defending sovereignty.
To sum up, the remarkable growth of China's military spending under the standard of purchasing power parity and the advantage of high efficiency and cost-effectiveness ratio are strong proof of the vigorous development of China's national defense construction.
However, rather than whether China's military spending will surpass that of the United States, we should pay more attention to how China can achieve a steady increase in its national defense capability with limited military spending and make greater contributions to maintaining world peace and stability.
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