China’s Defense Budget Needs Transparency to Transcend Suspicion

In an international system dominated by Western democratic states, China is the perennial outsider. China’s lack of transparency with regard to its military spending only adds fuel to the flame.

China now boasts the second largest defense budget in the world and spends more on defense than Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam combined.

…transparency in military spending can serve to mitigate tensions by holding governments accountable to their citizens and neighbors. However, the suspicion that surrounds China and its rising defense budget could cause such transparency to alarm, rather than assure its neighbors.

While some countries provide breakdowns of their defense expenditures, China reports only the topline figure. Yet this year, even this minimum expectation was shrouded in confusion.

Source: MATTHEW FUNAIOLE AND ALEXANDRA VIERS, The Cipher Brief

 

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