Asia's Arms Race Is Intensifying

Wall Street Journal: Chinese Military Spending, Ambitions Fuel Asian Arms Race, Studies Say

Regional defense spending rises even as nations’ economies are tested.

The rapid rise in Chinese military spending and a greater assertiveness in its territorial claims is fueling an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region even though many of the countries involved have been hit by an economic slowdown, new research reports suggest.

Of the 10 biggest importers of defense equipment in the past five years, six countries were in the Asia-Pacific region, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said in an annual report on arms transfers. India was the largest buyer of foreign equipment, with China in third position after Saudi Arabia, the think tank said.

Although a country’s spending power is often tied to its economic strength, buyers in the Asia-Pacific region aren’t slashing military budgets even as their economies have come under strain from falling commodity prices and lower growth in China. “The slight moderation in economic activity had little effect on regional military spending in 2015,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies, or IISS, said in a new report.

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Update #1: China Tensions Fuel Acceleration in Military Spending in Asia -- Bloomberg
Update #2: Asian security fears fueling global arms trade (DW)

WNU Editor: China is not only fuelling a massive Asian arms race by forcing countries to increase their defense spending, the Chinese are also selling the weapons .... China weapons exports surge over past five years: report (Reuters).