U.S. should take realistic view of China's military expenditure growth

It is useful for the United States to take a more realistic and benign view of the increase in China's military expenditure, a commentary in The Straits Times, an English daily in Singapore, said Thursday.

The commentary said that as China's economic networks multiply across the world, it would be compelled to ensure that its trade and oil supply routes are never impeded, thus making force projection the method of choice.

It added that America's anxiety about China's dramatic rise in fortunes and influence can be harmful to the vital relationship between the two countries.

"The anxiety can be harnessed for constructive collaboration or it can be misdirected for malevolent suppositions," the article noted.

"Hectoring can have no practical effect on China's thinking. Far better would it be for America to make space to share space," it said.

Source: Xinhua