IMHO
Whether China has or hasnot money on it s military development is not simply decided by your solo bias ,but by the hard fact lay below.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$10.17 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$2.518 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
10.7% (official data) (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$7,700 (2006 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
44 (2002)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.8% (2006)
and this data given by CIA worlds factor book which dramaticly exaggerated the Military expenditure by at least two times still suggests that our military spending is much lower than USs which is more than 4%, and other major power .
It s kind for you to consider the havenots in china , and I have to concede that the social justice here is not so contenting. However it still a bias to deny China s right to have a modest Army to defend itself.
If you have been in China , you should know that we have a bitter memory of sticking to internal affair .China have been the most prosperous place in the world for nealy a thousand year when we bury our head in our internal affair and pay comparatively less attention to the military development. Then the result is well-known , becoming a half-colony and losing over 1.5 Million square meter of land territory with numerous war-reparations in 19th century , 30million people brutally slaughtered by japanese in WW2.
So who has the right to say , China should have pay more attention to domastic isssue instead of puting money into defence budget . No one, because none has suffered such lose and learn a harder lesson -----that one must pay for his safety himself.
And if China are over invest in defence with 3.8%(offically 2.8%) of GDP ,then what of US ,india,russia and other major power. Can you say the US is a perfect heaven that no improvements are necessary ? What about the health care system cut down by Mr Bush for his pathetic Iraq war? what about the New Orleans s "should have" flood wall ? what about the annuity of veteran soldier.
Of course America is a great deal ahead than China, but being poor doesn t being necessaryly being naked .We still have the right to buy a door to lock in however much penny we have to protect what rightfully belong to us.
And about your strange recognization of Chinese. I could only say:your bias cloud your vision. the generation currently at prime are often the poorest victims of the culture-revolution which pause virtually any form of edution for a decade. So it s not surprise to find they are not so competetive as the new generation. However, they proved their unmatched contribution by soaring China s economic growth at 10% percent over 20 years which are very rare in the world.
And even in the hardest time of China during the 1960s , the innovation and great thought are not rare in China, which enable us to firstly artificially synthesize protein ,which is a markstone in scientific history of Humanbeing-------though the researchers refuse to accept nobel prize for zealous communist ideology.
Not to mention we develop our A-bomb H-bomb N-bomb ICBM
nuclear submarine, Space program, fighter ,MBT ````````````by our own hands in the condition of weapon-sanction.
Any one among these numerous achievement can be a solid prove of our mind and will.
So put away your bias that chinese are somewhat clumsy or slow ,only good at copy , Once we are one of the most scientific advanced nation in the world and nothing could prevent us take our rightful seat back, though the wound of education needs more time to cover than it of the economy ,but 30 year later, you may rue that Nobel haven t set more prize each year.
All in all,a nation s develop needs balance, China has many concern---------economy , social justice, education , health care, public wellfare, national security . Puting the minim military expenditure into other field can t help much but will hurt alot because military building also needs consistence, and we can afford such percentage of GDP on defence if other countries can.
