By: Christopher Bodeen
BEIJING — China's announcement of a 7 percent rise in military spending for the year came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump called for a 10 percent increase in America's defense budget, prompting renewed scrutiny of how the two countries' capabilities compare.
While the U.S. military remains the dominant force in Asia and the world, China has been moving from quantity to quality and is catching up quickly in equipment, organization and capability. It's also increasingly able to project power far from its shores. Rapid economic growth, lavish spending and a desire to regain China's historical role as East Asia's leading power are helping drive the moves.
Below is a comparison of the present state of the two militaries, based on figures found in recent U.S. government research on China's capabilities and information from defense think tanks and government websites. Some figures are estimates or approximations.
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