In short, China has been a godsend for the US arms industry.

In short, China has been a godsend for the US arms industry. 簡而言之，中國一直是美國軍火工業的天賜之物. 作為國會授權的國防戰略委員會，該委員會 12 名成員中有 9 名與軍火工業有直接或間接聯繫.

“The Congressionally mandated National Defence Strategy Commission … rang an even louder alarm bell about the purported threat from China and proposed 3 to 5 per cent annual growth in the Pentagon budget to address it … 9 of the 12 members of the commission had direct or indirect ties to the arms industry, a reality that no doubt had some influence over their deliberations and conclusions.”

Since the start of the US war in Afghanistan in 2001, the Pentagon has been handed a total of more than US$14 trillion, one-third to one-half of which went directly to defence contractors. That’s the total Pentagon expenditures for all purposes since 2001, which include the oft-quoted US$2 trillion spent on Afghanistan.