Over 90% worried as U.S. and Japan defense budgets hit new highs: CGTN poll

According to a global poll conducted by CGTN, some 93 percent of the respondents were deeply concerned, believing that the irrational increase in U.S. and Japanese military spending will destabilize regional peace and trigger a new round of arms race in East Asia and even in the world. The military budgets of the United States and Japan for 2024 have both reached historic highs, adding more unease to this tension. 

In 2023, global military spending continued to grow. According to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, global military spending reached $2.2 trillion in 2022, marking the eighth consecutive year of growth and setting a new high since the end of the Cold War. In this regard, 89.3 percent of global respondents were deeply concerned that the continued growth of global military spending will not only threaten peace, but will further exacerbate the global security dilemma. 

Another 87.2 percent of the respondents were deeply worried about the booming global arms trade market, believing that it will push up the risk of regional conflicts and induce bloc confrontations or even global conflicts. One netizen lamented in his message, "We have returned to the era of the Cold War, Iron Curtain, and arms race."

The global arms race is intensifying. The United States has withdrawn from the ABM Treaty and the INF Treaty, and Russia, the United States and NATO have announced their withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), therefore 83 percent of global respondents were disappointed with this. Of the respondents, 91.1 percent were concerned that a failure of balances among the major powers in military communication and arms control will undermine confidence in global arms control and aggravate the risk of global security.

Though in the midst of adversity, people are looking forward to peace. In the survey, 95.6 percent of the respondents believed that the security of one country cannot be achieved at the expense of the security of others, and regional security cannot be guaranteed by strengthening or even expanding military blocs, and that every country should take into account the reasonable security concerns of other countries when seeking its own security. 

Another 96.2 percent of the respondents said that there are no winners in war, and that all countries should adhere to the distinctive stance of opposing war, and maintain a high degree of vigilance against any acts of war as well as the potential risks of war, and promote the building of a world of common and universal security.

The survey was released on CGTN's English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian platforms, with 33,984 netizens voting and expressing their opinions within 24 hours.

(Cover: U.S. flags on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., November 7, 2022. /CFP)