I think it’s fair to say that the days of Moscow being the hub of the world’s second most powerful conventional military are at an end. Now, that power rests in Beijing. The PLA’s budget is vastly larger than Russia’s but a mere fraction of what the US spends. Despite that, China has gone through an incredibly rapid military modernisation over the last two decades, building new platforms and fielding new technologies so quickly that the gap between its capabilities and the USA has narrowed significantly. How? Today I look at the Chinese military budget, industry, and the wonders of purchasing power parity.