World War 3? China Increases Military Spending After US As New Global Arms Race Takes Shape

China has become the latest country to announce it would be increasing military spending in somewhat of a recent international trend that could turn into an all-out global arms race. The announcement Saturday came just days after President Donald Trump said he would be boosting the U.S.’ own military spending.

As tensions mount between each country, China’s reported announcement that its defense spending would be raised by "around seven percent" could be perceived as an act of aggression. However, the 7 percent figure was the lowest military spending hike since 2010, according to the online military database Global Security. If the raise goes forward as reported, it would cost China more than $146 billion. In comparison, Trump’s planned military spending was expected to cost $54 billion.

On the same day news of Trump’s defense plans were announced, a Chinese military official seemed optimistic despite a contentious exchange of posturing in the South China Sea and the region’s disputed manmade islands, the latter of which the U.S. suspected could serve as a storage facility for China’s nuclear weapons.

"We hope that relevant U.S. policies and measures can benefit the maintenance of global peace and stability," a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. "But on the South China Sea issue we have repeatedly said that the situation is at present developing well, in a positive direction, and is stable."

China reiterated on Thursday its intentions to continue building facilities on the artificial islands, prompting the U.S. to step up its Navy patrols of the waterway.

While the respective announcements of boosting military spending by the U.S. and China were all but certain, Germany was still considering increasing its own defense expenditures. However, Germany’s foreign minister thought that doing so could send the wrong message to the rest of Europe, and possibly the rest of the world, the Associated Press reported.

"This would be a defense supremacy, a military supremacy in Europe," Sigmar Gabriel said. "I think our neighbors wouldn't like to see this in 10 to 15 years."