8/14/2019 A Comparative Analysis of India & China

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A comparative analysis is therefore just, to see how India and China fare in militarystrengths against each other and in the global scene. Chinas military capability displayedin PEACE MISSION 2005 joint exercise with Russia Chinas military spending in 2006is about $ 80 billion as estimated by the United States DoD (Department of Defense)reports while the official Chinese CPC government quote is a $30 billion military

expenditure. The actual Chinese military capabilities and budget are shrouded in deepsecrecy to prevent foreign countries having an idea of its military powerand perhaps togenerate a lot of hype. Even if we were to go by the conservative official Chinese claimsof $ 30 billion, it would put China second only to USA in global military spending - avery ambitious one at that. On the other side, Indias official military spending is quotedas $22 billion for 2006 by the Ministry of Finance (India) Budget (2006-2007) last April.India however, does not keep a level of secrecy as cloaked as China does, primarily

because of its democratic government system and public accountability. By its official2006 military budget figures, India stands at 9th position in global military spending.Indias supersonic PJ-10 BrahMos developed jointly by Russia and is the fastest cruisemissile with a top speed of Mach 2.8 (~ three times faster than US Tomahawk) In 2006

Indias active military personell numbered over 1,325,000 while Chinas wassignificantly higher at 2,255,000. In the air defence area, Chinas PLA (PeoplesLiberation Army) Air Force has 9,218 aircrafts of which about 2300 are combat aircrafts,operating from its 489+ air bases. The Indian Air Force has 3382 aircrafts which includes1335 combat aircrafts operating from 334+ land bases and its sole aircraft carrier INSViraat. The best combat aircrafts in Chinas PLAAF are Russian Su-30 MK andindigenously built, 4th generation J-10 fighters. Indian Air Force, on the other hand hasFrench built Dassault Mirage 2000s and Russian Su-30 MKI as the best aircrafts in itscombat fleet (no indigenous fighters or aircrafts have been built by India so far). Indian

Navy is the worlds eighth largest navy with a with a fleet of 145 vessels consisting of missile-capable warships, advanced submarines, the latest naval aircrafts and an aircraft

carrier in its inventory. It is experienced both in combat and rescue operations duringwartime and peace as seen from its wars with Pakistan in 1971, the December 2004Tsunami, etc. On the other hand, Chinas PLA Navy with its 284 fleet is quantitativelylarger but primitive in actual experience and training as compared to the Indian Navy.China has no aircraft carriers in its naval fleet at present but is slated to build and inductan aircraft carrier by 2010. In economics we learn that incentives drive decision making

both by a nation and by an individual. In case of India, a democracy with no seriousmilitary adversary, its militarisation drive is often overshadowed by internal militancyissues and political struggles. In case of a communist China, it has a powerful militaryadversary in USA; their conflicts over Taiwan issue giving China a strong incentive to

beef up its military defence to counter the United States.