Chinese nuclear aircraft carrier.
SAN FRANCISCO — Wary of China’s increasingly aggressive stance in territorial disputes with neighbors, several Asian countries are arming themselves –triggering an unprecedented arms race in the world’s most populous region.
Asian countries now account for about half of the world’s arms imports as they scramble to spend defense dollars amid escalating spats over contested reefs and waters in South and East China Sea involving China and several of its neighbors.
According to defense publication IHS Jane’s, the Asia-Pacific region is the only part of the world to see military spending grow steadily since 2008.
The biggest spender is China, which has more than quadrupled its military spending since 2000. This year, IHS Jane’s estimates that Beijing would be outspending Britain, France and Germany combined.
China, second only to the United States in overall military spending, is allotting a record $144.2 billion defense budget for 2015, an increase of 10 percent compared with that of 2014.
As its economy grew in the last few decades China’s defense spending rose by double digits, the biggest incremental rise in the whole of Asia.
China outspending neighbors
To put things in perspective, Beijing’s military spending nearly equals the combined defense budgets of all 24 other countries in East and South Asia.
Japan, which is locked in a tense dispute over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, is seeking a record $48 billion defense outlay.
India, which has outstanding border disputes with China, is increasing defense spending by 11 percent to $40 billion for the fiscal year that starts April 1, representing an 11 percent rise from $35 billion.
India, already one of the largest weapons importers in the world and aiming to modernize its navy and air force, is suspicious of Beijing’s efforts to project power in the Indian Ocean.
But smaller nations, like the Philippines and Vietnam, have also found themselves caught up in the mad scramble to spend more on defense amid recent standoffs with Beijing over contested areas in the Paracels and the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
China is claiming almost the whole South China Sea, including maritime areas close to the shores of competing claimants: Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, in addition to Vietnam and the Philippines.
The disputed waters are among the world’s most productive areas for commercial fishing and are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas. They also encompass strategic sealanes through which over half of global supertanker traffic go through.
Target: ‘Ease U.S. out’
China’s goal is to dislodge the U.S. as the dominant power in the Pacific, according to Robert D. Kaplan, chief geopolitical analyst for the U.S.-based intelligence research firm Stratfor.
Among the stakes are vital shipping lanes in the South China Sea and potentially lucrative pockets of oil and natural gas under East Asian waters.
“The Chinese bet is that it can increase its military capacity in the South and East China seas faster than Vietnam and the Philippines can do so,” Kaplan was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. “If China is able to move freely and exercise more control of its adjacent seas, it will become a full-fledged naval power.”
Drawing the most attention is China’s submarine fleet, which is projected to match U.S. numbers by 2020, at 78 vessels each, according to AP. Many of the Chinese submarines will be stationed at a giant underwater base on Hainan Island, which juts into the South China Sea.
Subs shopping spree
China’s moves have elicited a similar submarine shopping spree from those locked in territorial disputes with Beijing.
Vietnam last month received the third of six Kilo-class submarines it ordered from Russia plus maritime patrol aircraft capable of hunting down Chinese subs. Russia is the top military exporter to Asia, followed by the U.S. and then European countries such as the Netherlands.
In May, Vietnamese and Chinese ships rammed each other repeatedly during a tense standoff after China moved an oil rig in waters 120 miles from Vietnam’s coast near the disputed Paracels. Vietnam is expanding its maritime defense fleet to counter the threat of another incursion into its territorial waters.
Similarly, Japan, probably the most advanced Asian maritime power, is replacing its entire fleet with more modern submarines. South Korea is adding bigger attack submarines and India plans to build six new subs.
The Philippines, which has one of the weakest militaries in the region, is boosting spending on maritime patrol aircraft, guided missile frigates and is planning to acquire submarines in the future.
After helplessly watching China seize Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) and the frenzied reclamation of reefs in the Spratlys that both country claim, Manila welcomed U.S. troops back to its bases after a 20-year absence through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
“The Philippines is doing a lot of work to invest in military modernization,” said Jon Grevatt, Asia-Pacific defense analyst at the research group IHS Jane’s, in an interview with AP. “For many years its economy has been growing and for many years it hasn’t been able to respond to these requirements.”
Japan reaches out
Japan, which has forged defense cooperation deals with both Vietnam and the Philippines, is helping Hanoi and Manila by supplying both countries with badly needed maritime patrol vessels. .
In June, Japan agreed to donate six coast guard vessels to Vietnam, after pledging 10 to the Philippines last year.
On its own, Vietnam, which was involved in two bloody sea clashes with China in 1975 and 1988, has nearly doubled its coast guard fleet to 68 vessels over the past five years.
Japan has expanded its main coast guard fleet by 41 vessels, for a total of 389 ships.
Malaysia is also increasing by 10 percent its defense spending for 2015 to $5.4 billion, according The Diplomat.
Part of the budget funding increase would go strengthening the Royal Malaysian Navy, including relocating light combat aircraft in Labuan Island.
According to The Diplomat, the Labuan airstrip would also accommodate the basing of U.S. Navy’s P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft on a “case-by-case basis.”
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