CHINA PERSPECTIVE

CGTN frames the budget as a clear statement of priorities: bombs before families. The article repeats Senator Murray's quote — 'Donald Trump might be happy to spend more money on bombs in the Middle East than on families here in America' — and details cuts to domestic programs: refugee assistance, renewable energy, university scholarships, housing. SCMP connects the budget to the Iran war and widening deficit, noting that 'even the more skeptical view Trump held toward military spending in his first term, when he called it crazy, has disappeared.' Beijing observes an empire accelerating its own decline: the more war costs, the more the U.S. must borrow, the more pressure on the dollar, the more leverage China — the largest holder of American debt — gains. The budget also signals Washington is reinforcing its global military posture, not just against Iran but potentially in the Indo-Pacific. CGTN does not say China is threatened — it lets the reader draw the connection.