Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ships and US Navy ships take part in an exercise. Defense spending is growing rapidly in the region. Photo: AFP/Michael Russell/US Navy
Andrew Salmon, Asia Times: Northeast Asia arms race surges in 2019
While South Korea's arms budget focuses on the North Korean threat, massive Japanese spending looks aimed at both China and North Korea.
As China massively upgrades its power projection abilities with naval and naval air assets, and North Korea retains its nuclear and missile capabilities despite the diplomatic breakthroughs of 2018, Northeast Asia’s democracies Japan and South Korea are also muscling up.
It is unclear how far 2019’s defense budgets are driven by their urge to deter potential enemies, and how far by the unpredictable status of alliances under the Donald Trump administration.
A further complication is the administration’s aggressive moves to cut trade deficits with Asian economies: Defense equipment is expensive, and the US remains the “arsenal of democracy.”
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