Quote from The Financial Times:

"Beijing’s military expansion looks even less impressive, according to a forthcoming article by Adam Liff and Andrew Erickson, two US experts on Chinese military affairs. The paper argues that, in real prices, military spending rose by 3.1 per cent per year on average in 2010 and 2011, and that each year 'China’s military forces receive – on average – a declining percentage of the government’s largesse'."

"'In other words, China’s investment in its military development, while increasing at a rapid clip, has been outpaced by the government’s overall spending, and does not come close to dominating national priorities – in stark contrast to that of, say, the former Soviet Union,' write Mr Liff and Mr Erickson".