Photo via South China Morning Post

China close to matching US spending on ‘new way of war’, Republican senator warns

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

Tong, Z., & Quaggin, L. (2026, October 20). China close to matching US spending on ‘new way of war’, Republican senator warns. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3371555/china-close-matching-us-spending-new-way-war-republican-senator-warns

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-20 · by Zhang Tong, Lucy Quaggin

Quick Summary

Republican Senator Dave McCormick warns that China is nearing parity with the United States in funding modern military technology and equipment, despite America's larger overall defense budget. Speaking at the Hudson Institute following a visit to Japan and South Korea, McCormick emphasized that up to 90% of US defense spending goes toward outdated systems. He called for enhanced cooperation among allies like Japan and South Korea to address this emerging challenge posed by China’s advanced military investments.
Written by AI on 2026-10-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Dave McCormick, a Republican senator from Pennsylvania and West Point graduate, warned at the Hudson Institute that China is rapidly closing the gap with the United States in military technology spending. After visiting Japan and South Korea, McCormick highlighted that up to 90 percent of US defense spending goes toward outdated equipment. Despite China's overall defense budget being significantly lower than the US, he noted that its investment in advanced military technologies is much more comparable to America’s. McCormick called for closer cooperation with American allies like Japan and South Korea on hi-tech military equipment to counter Beijing’s growing capabilities.

Written for “China Military Spending” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 China Military Spending
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
China’s R&D spending keeps up steady rise as No 1 US seeks further funding cuts Different event
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 62/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of military and R&D spending without describing the same specific incident or occurrence.”
US-China strategic competition to keep escalating as world watches on, Rudd says Different event
South China Morning Post
Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 62/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of US-China strategic competition without describing the same specific incident or occurrence.”
US, allies and China vie for influence through Pacific security deals Different event
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans right Hedges 1 of 5 claims Outlet record 62/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of strategic competition between China and the US, with Article A focusing on a senator's warning about military spending and Article B detailing security deals in the Pacific.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
3
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 3 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
62/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 3740 article(s) · 8 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 8 correction(s)
2026-11-03
Singapore hit-and-run: organiser of fund for orphaned boy vows transparency
2026-11-01
Former Apple Daily publisher joins mainland China tour for rehabilitated offenders
2026-10-16
Nobel Peace Prize: the message behind Navi Pillay’s win
2026-10-16
Indonesian governor’s Singapore trip adds fury to forest fire, haze crisis
2026-10-04
Flight to Okinawa diverts back to Hong Kong after suspected landing gear fault
2026-10-04
Tennessee prisons chief resigning after botched execution of Christa Pike
2026-09-29
Indonesian prison chief suspended over secret VIP compound for inmates
2026-09-28
Trump ‘arms offer’ to China jolts Washington into moves to contain the fallout

Who wrote this

Zhang Tong
18 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 The last state to close polls will be Alaska, at 1am Eastern Time (2pm Hong Kong time).
2026-11-04 · mixed framing · US midterms: what happened while Asia slept, and when to expect results
🔮 How the technology will affect a field known as most difficult discipline of all has sparked heated discussions in mathematical community Human teams are now interpreting the AI-generated results in mathematics, computer science and physics, OpenAI said.
2026-11-02 · assertive framing · As AI solves maths puzzles faster than humans, mathematicians face uncertain future
🔮 “The programme noted in the letter will officially terminate after the current academic year,” she said.
2026-10-21 · mixed framing · US colleges scale back cooperation with Chinese institutions after Pentagon’s push
🔮 A federal judge subsequently acquitted him on seven additional counts of economic espionage, finding insufficient evidence that he knew or intended at the time of the thefts that his conduct would benefit the Chinese government.
2026-10-20 · assertive framing · US sanctions 5 Chinese entities over ex-Google engineer’s AI trade secrets theft
🔮 China lights up ‘super microscope’ hopes with world-leading electron gun beam By observing matter at the atomic scale, the Hefei Advanced Light Facility could drive breakthroughs in microchips
2026-09-28 · mixed framing · China lights up ‘super microscope’ hopes with world-leading electron gun beam
🔮 State broadcaster CCTV reported that the technology could fundamentally strengthen China’s ability to secure its own iron resources and reduce its heavy dependence on imports of the strategic commodity.
2026-09-06 · mixed framing · China begins mining iron from tailings, low-grade ore that can meet its demand for decades
🔮 The Fengyun-4C’s storm-tracking abilities could provide vital early warnings about extreme weather events during the rescue operation China is using the world’s most powerful geostationary weather satellite to track severe thunderstorms over Nepal and deliver real-time intelligence as the two countries continue search and rescue operations following last month’s devastating glacier collapse.
2026-09-06 · mixed framing · World’s most powerful lightning-chasing satellite joins China-Nepal flood relief efforts
🔮 By tracking the needle’s tiny deflections, the team can measure magnetic fields down to the femtotesla level – an advance that could widen the hunt for elusive dark matter particles or monitor brain signals.
2026-09-05 · assertive framing · Chinese-German team builds ultra-sensitive ‘floating compass’ to hunt dark matter
Also by Zhang Tong
US midterms: what happened while Asia slept, and when to expect results
2026-11-03 · South China Morning Post
As AI solves maths puzzles faster than humans, mathematicians face uncertain future
2026-11-02 · South China Morning Post
US colleges scale back cooperation with Chinese institutions after Pentagon’s push
2026-10-21 · South China Morning Post
US sanctions 5 Chinese entities over ex-Google engineer’s AI trade secrets theft
2026-10-19 · South China Morning Post
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 18 articles by Zhang Tong →
Lucy Quaggin
15 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 How a Democratic-controlled Congress could reshape US policy on China
2026-10-30 · speculative framing · How a Democratic-controlled Congress could reshape US policy on China
🔮 Does that address these problems of what I would call a conflicted co-dependency?
2026-10-30 · assertive framing · Economist Stephen Roach warns the US and China are in a ‘conflicted co-dependency’
🔮 The notice said that using the company’s products “may result in the transfer of sensitive data to the PRC if used by US government employees or vendors”, adding that the models “themselves may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities”.
2026-10-20 · mixed framing · US orders DeepSeek removed from federal systems, citing national security risks
🔮 The remarks come two days before Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive in Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump for a closely watched summit where AI is expected to be on the agenda after the two countries agreed to establish a dialogue on the technology a day earlier.
2026-09-21 · assertive framing · US, China need nuclear-style AI safeguards, congressman says before Xi-Trump summit
Also by Lucy Quaggin
OpenAI executive urges caution in China-US AI talks, warns of distillation threats
2026-11-03 · South China Morning Post
G20 foreign ministers end Atlanta meeting without consensus on key issues
2026-10-31 · South China Morning Post
How a Democratic-controlled Congress could reshape US policy on China
2026-10-30 · South China Morning Post
Economist Stephen Roach warns the US and China are in a ‘conflicted co-dependency’
2026-10-30 · South China Morning Post
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 15 articles by Lucy Quaggin →

Topics

American China Japan Republican South Korea

Subjects

China GPE · 3× Dave McCormick PERSON · 2× Japan GPE · 2× South Korea GPE · 2× American NORP · 1× Beijing GPE · 1× Pennsylvania GPE · 1× Republican NORP · 1× West Point ORG · 1× the Hudson Institute ORG · 1×

Narrative

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 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.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-20
2026-10-20 · South China Morning Post
China close to matching US spending on ‘new way of war’, Republican senator warns · assertive framing

Claims (3 extracted, 0 hedged)

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 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. asserted
cent → match → equipment
“We convince ourselves; we lull ourselves into a sense of false security,” he said. asserted
he → convince → security
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”. asserted
spending → say → war
💬Give feedback · no sign-in needed

No sign-in needed for now. Your note is sent without a name, so it cannot be answered.

🕘History 🎫Support
Terms · Privacy · beta v2.0.0
Articles to 4 Nov 2026