Nominal spending figures understate China’s military might
Entry-level pay for soldiers is 16 times higher in America than in China
“THAT’S NOT going to happen on my watch,” Joe Biden said last month, regarding China’s “goal to become...the most powerful country in the world.” In the martial realm, military-expenditure estimates released this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) seem to back up his prediction. America spent $778bn on defence in 2020, 39% of the global total and more than the rest of the top ten countries put together.
This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline "Buck for the bang"
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