Military budget hoo-ha tempest in a teacup

Meanwhile, some Western media outlets have once again sensationalized China's military spending as a threat, by focusing on its double-digit growth.

But such speculation is absurd. The size and growth rate of a country's military budget, are only two of the main indexes for judging whether its military spending is reasonable, with two others being the military budget per capita and the percentage of GDP spent on the military.

If China's military budget is about $142 billion this year, it is still about $61,800 per capita, and the US defense budget for Fiscal Year of 2015 is about $600 billion for its 1.44 million military personnel, or $416,666 per capita; Japan spent 4.98 trillion yen ($41.5 billion) for the 247,000 personnel in its self-defense forces, or $168,016 per capita. So China's per capita spending on its armed forces is much smaller than that of the US or Japan.

As to the second index, according to data from the Stockholm Peace Research Center, China's military budget accounts for 1.5 percent of GDP, while the world average is about 2.6 percent and that of US is 4.3 percent; even that of Japan has reached 1 percent, the upper limit set by its peaceful Constitution.

In fact, to narrow the military gap with Western developed powers and better defend its growing interests globally, China needs to raise its military budget annually; and the growth rate should be greater than that of the West or the gaps will widen.

It has been predicted that China's GDP could reach $21 trillion in 2019, surpassing the $20 trillion of US. If their military budget percentages remain at current level, China's military budget would still be less than half that of US. There is really no need to worry about China having military superiority.

The author is a retired major general and senior advisor to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.