CHINA PERSPECTIVE

CGTN frames the budget as a clear statement of priorities: bombs before families. The article reprints 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 domestic cuts: refugee aid, renewables, university grants, housing. The SCMP connects the budget to the Iran war and growing deficit, noting that 'even the more skeptical view Trump took towards military spending in his first term, when he even once called the level of funding crazy' has vanished. Beijing watches an empire accelerating its own decline: the more the war costs, the more the US must borrow, the more pressure on the dollar, the more leverage for China -- the largest holder of US debt. The budget also signals Washington is strengthening its global military posture, not just against Iran but potentially in the Indo-Pacific. CGTN doesn't say China is threatened -- it lets the reader connect the dots.