One day, when I have the time and the willpower to write it all out, I will regale hexbear with the story of the time I got into a geopolitical discussion with a young American, liberal, politics post-grad whilst I was in Oaxaca. I've refrained from mentioning it ever because it was a greatest hits of liberal brain worms and it hurts my soul to recall it. Nevertheless, China was one of the topics of discussion and she expressed her great disapproval of the size of China's armed forces. This was at the tail end of our discussion and I had lost my patience at this point so I had to point out that any country would be wise to maintain a large army with the great monster that is the United States looming over the border, listed a bunch of conflicts that the US had instigated in my lifetime, until I was blue in the face, and then ended the conversation.

Anyway, fuck that smug, chauvinistic lib.

People freak out that China spends a lot on the military even though it’s still a lot less than the US spends

Western political scientists explain this one as the idea that the ideal miilitary power to have is more than everyone else. By this logic, there is no amount that is ever "enough" military spending, and any gain in military power by any other country is a threat to yours.

They also want other countries to ramp up spending or cheer when they do.

See Japan saber rattling because PM and party but libs are happy. If China had said half the shit the PM had they'd say invade now