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As the US election progresses, the war over military spending has temporarily faded from the American people's horizons. However, after January next year, no matter who is elected as the US president, the first thing they will face is how to compile the government budget for the new fiscal year. Among them, military spending will naturally be the highlight.

Now, the amount of US military spending is directly related to how they view the combat effectiveness of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. China's military spending is already the second largest in the world, second only to the United States. Although in terms of amount, China's military spending is only about 1/4 of that of the United States, it is enough to make the US military uneasy.

Not only that, further analysis shows that China's military expenditure is much more efficient than that of the United States. In early August, the Center for Strategic and International Studies released new research results analyzing the use of China's military expenditure. According to data provided by this research institute, in 2021, China's defense expenditure was approximately 137.87 billion yuan, of which personnel expenses accounted for 429.8 billion, training and facility equipment maintenance accounted for 448 billion, and equipment procurement costs were as high as 500.9 billion, accounting for about 36%. Comparing the two, how much money is actually used to buy equipment in the huge military expenditure of the United States? In the fiscal year 2024-2025, the United States' military expenditure reached 895 billion US dollars, of which 168 billion US dollars was used for the purchase of weapons and equipment, accounting for only 19%. In addition, 143 billion US dollars was used for scientific research and development, accounting for 16%. The problem is that the total procurement and scientific research is 311 billion US dollars. After spending so much money, the US military has not developed and produced much of the weapons and equipment it wants, and the army, navy and air force are not satisfied. The number of missile weapons procured is seriously insufficient. According to a US research institute, if a war breaks out with China in the Taiwan Strait, the current ammunition stockpiled by the US military will be used up in just a few days. If we also look at the number of fighter jets and warships procured, it is even more suspicious: where did all the money go?

The shortage of equipment procurement is one issue, and the sluggishness in R&D is also serious. Currently, the three branches of the U.S. military are trying to promote the development of the next generation of weapons and equipment, but no branch of the military can come up with a design plan with a generational advantage. The Army has not yet proposed a next-generation equipment system, the Air Force's next-generation advanced fighter development plan has just been overturned and restarted, and the Navy's next-generation largeDestroyer, intending to catch up with China's already in service055 Large Destroyer, and delivery is nowhere in sight.

Obviously, the U.S. military has not been able to achieve the efficiency of China's military expenditure with the same equipment R&D and procurement ratio. In addition, some researchers believe that using the official exchange rate to evaluate China's military expenditure does not explain the problem. Because China's weapons and equipment are mainly developed and purchased in China, the purchasing power parity exchange rate should be used for comparison. According to this calculation method, China's defense expenditure in 2024 should be 471 billion US dollars.

But if we calculate it this way, it will make the United States feel even more frightened. Because $471 billion is more than half of the US military. The US military is deployed globally, and it must deploy troops to guard the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. It is impossible to use more than half of its military resources in front of China, while most of China's military resources can be placed in the direction of the Western Pacific. Therefore, if we use the purchasing power evaluation algorithm, the US military cannot even spend more money than the People's Liberation Army.

As for the so-called Asia-Pacific allies that the US government has repeatedly emphasized, they cannot be relied upon either. If the US is not taken into account, China's military expenditure has exceeded the total of 22 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific region, including India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Taiwan.

It is for this reason that American hawks have been clamoring to significantly increase military spending and increase its share of GDP. However, as the US federal debt continues to accumulate, the annual debt interest payable has exceeded military spending. Further large-scale increases in military spending will only cause the US government to go bankrupt sooner.