The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
China Tries to Hide the Truth About Japan
by James Dunnigan
January 20, 2006
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
China is trying to make their people
believe that Japan is a military threat to China. One way China does
this is to point out that Japan’s military spending is $42 billion a
year, compared to $26 billion for China. Japan’s more modern weapons
are also highlighted, as well as Japan’s decades of aggression in
China, which only ended in 1945, when the United States nuked two
Japanese cities.
Japan has responded by pointing out that China
has nearly ten times as many troops (2.2 million versus 230,000), and a
defense budget of over $30 billion. That’s because many items Japan
counts as defense costs, China does not (like R&D, some logistics
and transportation items). Moreover, 45 percent of Japan’s defense
spending goes to salaries, while less than 20 percent of Chinese
spending does. Although Japan does not like to admit it, it’s high tech
weapons cost a lot more than they should (because of low production
runs and the use of highly paid Japanese, instead of offshore,
workers). Another painful fact for the Japanese is that 5-10 percent of
their defense budget goes to things like soundproofing the windows of
homes near Japanese air bases. Japan is much more sensitive to
relations with civilians living near military bases.
Another
vital point is that China has nukes, and Japan does not (although
everyone acknowledges that Japan could equip itself with nuclear
weapons in a year or so.) Chinese generals will admit to themselves,
but not in public, that, man-for-man, Japanese troops are more
effective. But not so much that Japan’s armed might could be considered
superior to Chinas. While Japan’s defense budget has been shrinking
every year since the late 1990s, China’s has been growing. Thus any
detailed discussion of the subject, like this one, is forbidden in the
Chinese media, because it would clearly show that China's military
power is growing, while Japan's is not.
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