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and two more:

The US military tends to buy things in the USA for obvious reasons. That costs more. One would expect the Chinese military to buy things made in China. That saves money, making the military effort look smaller.

The US military pays for lots of stuff that isn't really military. Consider VA hospitals for veterans. Some countries would count that sort of thing in a military budget, while others would not.

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China buys a lot of of their current military from other countries, however that is changing as they seek to establish themselves. In 10-15 years they will probably be close to parity in technology, however nowhere near close in capability.

I'm not sure the US will allow China to close any type of military gap whether that's in technology or capacity. I worry the US will begin to view China as an existential threat over the next decade with a possible full scale war the decade after that.

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