Sean Chen

Interpreting China’s military expenditure has been a complicated issue with important regional implications. Although China publishes its official defense budget and provides justifications for increases in its military spending, most observers remain skeptical of the accuracy of the official figures and wary of the military modernization efforts. This skepticism has shaped the responses of other Asia-Pacific nations toward China’s military modernization.

No matter how you look at it, the numbers just do not add up for an impossible task in Afghanistan.