As our enemies attempt to show solidarity, our defense spending should project strength. Instead, Biden’s recently released budget projects weakness. For the third year in a row, he has requested military spending that does not even keep up with inflation.
On the other hand, China has increased its military investment every year for the past 20 years. This month, the Chinese Communist Party announced a 7.2 percent increase in its military budget – about six times the rate of Biden’s proposal. That increase is probably an understatement of China’s true spending.
In the three decades since we emerged as the world’s sole superpower, the sheer force of our military might has largely discouraged China and Russia from aggression. But China is expanding its military at a faster pace than any army in human history, threatening our ability to prevent war and to be victorious if we are attacked.
Today with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is a real threat China may have similar designs toward its neighbor, Taiwan. If China succeeds, it will control a broad swath of the Pacific Ocean, and the global balance of power will tilt. Our children and grandchildren would not live in an American-led 21st century. Current military investment is not enough to ensure China does not invade Taiwan, and that must change.
