A comparative analysis is therefore just, to see how India and China fare in military

strengths against each other and in the global scene. China’s military capability displayed
in ‘PEACE MISSION 2005‘ joint exercise with Russia China’s military spending in 2006
is 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 deep
secrecy to prevent foreign countries having an idea of its military power…and perhaps to
generate a lot of hype. Even if we were to go by the conservative official Chinese claims
of $ 30 billion, it would put China second only to USA in global military spending - a
very ambitious one at that. On the other side, India’s official military spending is quoted
as $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 official
2006 military budget figures, India stands at 9th position in global military spending.
India’s supersonic PJ-10 BrahMos developed jointly by Russia and is the fastest cruise
missile with a top speed of Mach 2.8 (~ three times faster than US’ Tomahawk) In 2006
India’s active military personell numbered over 1,325,000 while China’s was
significantly higher at 2,255,000. In the air defence area, China’s PLA (People’s
Liberation 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 includes
1335 combat aircrafts operating from 334+ land bases and its sole aircraft carrier INS
Viraat. The best combat aircrafts in China’s PLAAF are Russian Su-30 MK and
indigenously built, 4th generation J-10 fighters. Indian Air Force, on the other hand has
French built Dassault Mirage 2000s and Russian Su-30 MKI as the best aircrafts in its
combat fleet (no indigenous fighters or aircrafts have been built by India so far). Indian
Navy is the world’s 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 during
wartime and peace as seen from its wars with Pakistan in 1971, the December 2004
Tsunami, etc. On the other hand, China’s PLA Navy with its 284 fleet is quantitatively
larger 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 induct
an 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 serious
military adversary, its militarisation drive is often overshadowed by internal militancy
issues and political struggles. In case of a communist China, it has a powerful military
adversary in USA; their conflicts over Taiwan issue giving China a strong incentive to
beef up its military defence to counter the United States.