The Chinese government raised its defense budget by only 7.5 percent, the lowest in years. The People’s Republic will spend $78 Billion in 2010 up from $72.5 Billion. China's defense structure has grown bigger than France, Russia and the U.K. It’s debatable if the surprise low increase is due to Beijing trying to temper its world image or if the country needed the money in other sectors. One other reason may be that Vietnam, India and recently Taiwan have responded to China’s military spending with buying more weapons themselves and it would seem that China doesn’t want to start an arms race in Asia. 
The Pentagon has given attention to the country’s military strength as a source of national pride. On October 1, the sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China, a massive military parade marched through the heart of Beijing showing off the country's new hardware.
One is forced to ask what exactly are the aspirations of China’s military: the navy keeps pushing patrols further offshore, spokesman for the military strongly threaten against US intervention in any conflicts with the Taiwanese, and military officers have also gushed about hopefully building the first Chinese aircraft carrier.
However, the Chinese are not exactly a lean military force, a Pentagon report concludes. They do not know how to use all the hardware they have and don’t have enough people trained to fire some of their high-tech weaponry. But it is certainly clear that China is fashioning itself to be the world’s number one power.
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