China close to matching US spending on ‘new way of war’, Republican senator warns
Por Lucy Quaggin,Zhang Tong — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement US-China relations China Diplomacy China close to matching US spending on ‘new way of war’, Republican senator warns
Dave McCormick calls for closer cooperation on hi-tech military equipment with American allies like Japan and South Korea to counter Beijing
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Lucy Quaggin in New York and Zhang Tong in Washington Published: 12:12am, 21 Oct 2026 Updated: 12:15am, 21 Oct 2026 The United States is lulling itself into a “sense of false security” over its military rivalry with China, according to a Republican senator who called for more spending on modern warfare systems and closer cooperation with allies.
Speaking at the Hudson Institute after a recent trip to Japan and South Korea, Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania senator and West Point graduate, claimed up to 90 per cent of US defence spending funded decades-old equipment and technologies.
“We convince ourselves; we lull ourselves into a sense of false security,” he said.
Although China’s total defence budget was significantly lower than the US one, McCormick said China’s spending “on the new way of war … is much more comparable”.
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