I understand your sentiment perfectly well because I have the same impulse and desire to see China committed to a massive military build-up, but this kind of ego-boosting and chest-thumping actually plays into America's hand in the China-threat narrative. At the moment China is focused on its RECP, BRI, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization partners, and rightly so.
The economy always occupies the top spot at the heart of the Beijing Government. Seeing how the US is heading into recession and the unavoidable Treasury Bond/Debt default in June/July, how the US is going to fund its defense budget is a big unknown.
yeah, I believe China's defense budget is good enough in terms of area access denial to US naval forces at the western Pacific theatre. Anyway, China is not going to invade the US mainland at the end of the day.
However, there may be black swan events where the economic plan of China gets derailed, such as Taiwan formally declaring independence, the PH coastguard vessel opening fire on Chinese fishing vessels or occupying some SCS islands claimed by China, or US planes/ships clashing with China's at SCS or Taiwan Strait. Under these possible scenarios China would have no choice but to react with brute force.
in conclusion, China is caught in an uncomfortable position, defense budget too high-->neighbours scared, too low-->US perceives you being weak and attacks. 7.2% increase looks like a good balance to me.
