Originally Posted by jorgelito

To clarify, even though China's expenses may be 1/4 cheaper, and in the long run, because of relative gains, could potentially pass the US (assuming the US is a a standstill) in 50 years (as I understood it). Secondly, we need to look at what and where they are spending. For example, their com systems still lag far behind. It's highly unlikely that they can develop "in-house" any systems at the level of sophistication that the US possesses. That leaves buying the technology. well, the US isn't going to sell it to them (as far as I know). So, that leaves Europe and Russia(maybe). I agree that China is trying to rapidly modernize, especially Navy, but there's only so much they can do. Even with technology leaps, the US is still overwhelmingly dominant.