Closing the Gap: China's military rise and strategic challenge
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
- Venue
- Main Building, SOAS
- Room
- Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT)
- Event type
- Lecture
About this event
Despite growing concerns over China’s military build-up and modernization there have been few attempts to understand the growth of China’s defence budget, its comparative size or composition.
Available estimates of China’s military spending range implausibly from one quarter of the USA to near parity and, since the end of the Cold-War, no statistical agencies or defence departments have reported international comparisons of real defence spending.
This presentation will discuss and compare recent efforts to infer the real size and growth of China’s defence spending relative to the USA and points of disputes over these studies. It will also discuss the rate at which China's military has grown and the extent to which it is catching up up with the USA. I show that China’s defence budget in real terms is currently 60% larger than widely used market exchange rate estimates, and equal to 59% of the USA’s defence budget.
China’s military is much more labour intensive than the USA but has also had a massive increase in military equipment per person, with real military equipment spending growing at 10 percent per annum since 2010. This rise is consistent with descriptive accounts of China's rapid military modernization.
About the speaker
Professor Peter Robertson is a Professor of Economics and Dean of the Business School at the University of Western Australia. His research focuses on economic growth, international trade, economic history and defence economics.
He is known for his research on trade and inequality, the Lucas puzzle, the middle-income trap. His research on the measurement of real military spending across countries has featured four times in The Economist Magazine. Peter’s career spans two decades in academia and government, having held positions at The Productivity Commission, Melbourne and The University of New South Wales.
He has held visiting positions at The University of British Columbia, Rutgers University, University of Otago and St Anthony’s College Oxford. Peter has published widely on the interactions between economic growth, economic development, international trade and international relations.
Chair
- Professor Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations, SOAS
Registration
This event is free to attend, but registration is required. Please note that seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Contact
- Email: sci@soas.ac.uk
Photo credit: kremlin.ru / CC BY 4.0
