By turning down an offer from U.S. President Donald Trump for a mutual 50 percent cut in defense budget, China will go down in history as the war-mongering nation. The power-hungry Chinese Communist Party mandarins have not realized that it would have been in their own interest to have accepted the offer. For, China has no chance to catch up with the U.S. and its allies in the arms race that Beijing has triggered by announcing a record high defense budget and by stepping up its belligerent activities in the South China Sea.
After taking over as President, Trump had offered that the U.S., Russia and China, the three countries with the largest defense budgets, cut their spending on the military by 50 percent. “One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia. And I want to say: ‘Let’s cut our military budget in half,” President Trump had said.
It was a noble proposal, which would have reduced the chance of a global war and spared funds for development of the welfare of mankind. The next day President of Russia Vladimir Putin had welcomed the idea. “I think it’s a good idea. The U.S. would cut by 50 percent and we would cut by 50 percent and then China would join, if it wanted,” Putin had said.
Unfortunately, China had turned down the proposal. The proposal of President Trump to which President Putin had reacted personally had not been considered serious enough to merit a reaction from President of China Xi Jinping. The task of reacting to the proposals from President Trump and President Putin had been left to Foreign Ministry spokesperson of China Lin Jian who had claimed China’s spending on defense to be “limited” and necessary to ensure its national security.
The statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman soon turned out to be a big joke. Soon after, China stepped up its annual defense budget for 2025 to a record level of $249 billion; a 7.2 percent increase over the previous year’s $232 billion. Beijing also stepped up aggressive moves in the South China Sea, against Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam. In fact, China was the main reason for the growing security deficit in the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, China has no chance to catch up with the growth of the U.S. military which will be spending over $890 billion in defense in the current year. On top of it, worried over the arms build-up by China and the Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, NATO has decided to step up its own efforts to combat the threat.
China has been modernizing and expanding its navy and air force at a feverish pitch, with the aim to strengthen the fleet as a blue water navy and develop the capabilities of the air force in deep penetration strikes. China has not been stepping up defense budget to strengthen its defensive capabilities against external aggression but to strengthen its abilities to carry out off-shore operations; to further the expansionist agenda of the CCP.
China has been adding to its aircraft carrier capabilities. The third aircraft carrier of China is undergoing sea trials and is set to be commissioned in the current year. The fourth aircraft carrier, with nuclear propulsion, is already under construction. According to a Pentagon report of 2023, China has plans to possess six aircraft carriers by 2035. The fourth aircraft carrier plans to have on board the J-31 stealth fighter jets which are now being developed by China, an advanced version of the fifth generation J-20. With their low-signature designs, the fifth generation fighters are particularly difficult to be detected by radars. China has also developed an advanced landing craft with a full-length flight deck, now termed “Invasion Barges,” built with an eye on invading Taiwan.
The Chinese navy, in the meantime, has been making aggressive moves in the South China Sea, denying the Philippines freedom of movement, carrying out live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin and threatening Taipei with aggressive air and sea exercises near the coasts of Taiwan. In the backdrop of the building of the Chinese military at a frenetic pace, the threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is on the rise.
What the CCP mandarins have not bargained for is that nations facing the Chinese threat are not sitting idle. They have also been increasing their defense budgets and developing advanced arms and weapon platforms.
Japan has stepped up military build-up, and is acquiring strike-back capabilities with long-range cruise missiles. Japan has also expanded defense ties with NATO which is assisting South Korea, Australia and New Zealand too. Taiwan is planning to step up defense spending in view of the escalating threat from China. India has stepped up allocation in defense in the financial year 2025-26 by 9.5 percent compared to the previous year primarily because of the Chinese threat from the northern border of the country.
The response of the U.S. to the growing threat from China has been massive. The Pentagon is in the process of developing the next generation fighter jet that will be way ahead of any other fighter aircraft of the current generation and will significantly reduce the threat from the J-20 fighters of China. Known as Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), the manned jet, to be named F-47, will serve as back-up to a fleet of future drones capable of penetrating the air defense of China. “We are going to write the next generation of modern aerial warfare with this,” Chief of Staff of U.S. Air Force General David Allvin has said. The news will be music to the ears of the Philippines and Taiwan that face daily threats from China.
In aircraft carriers the U.S. is miles ahead of China, with 11 nuclear powered aircraft carriers in its arsenal. The U.S. Air Force already has more than 1,100 F-35s, currently the most advanced fifth generation fighter jet in the world which in future will play a complimentary role to the NGAD.. The stealth bomber of the future B-21 Raider is in the planning stage. To meet the challenge of Dongfeng- anti-ship ballistic missiles of China, the U.S. is all set to integrate long-range ship attack missiles into its fleet of modern fighter jets; with a potential conflict with the Chinese military in the Indo-Pacific in mind.
Posterity will brand China as the war-monger, having triggered an arms race through its aggressive moves and having paid the price for it.