Perils of Comparing Defence Spending

Many observers of the contemporary Sino-American relationship are concerned about the growth of China's military power. Figuring out the extent of China's military investment is however difficult because of the unreliability of official Chinese statistics. Some analysts have tried to formulate their own estimates of China's military spending using purchasing power parity (PPP) to account for China's lower labour and production costs. Anand Toprani explores the dangers of relying on PPP calculations using the lessons learned from the flawed assessments of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He argues that focusing on dollar figures says little about actual military capabilities and the asymmetries between US and Chinese militaries. ◼