Arms sales in Asia are rising
The latest report on arms sales in Asia confirm a trend that has been evident for a while - far from being cowed by a rising China, many Asian states are bulking up their military capabilities:
Indonesia is buying submarines from South Korea and coastal radar systems from China and the United States. Vietnam is getting submarines and combat jets from Russia, while Singapore - the world's fifth-largest weapons importer - is adding to its sophisticated arsenal.Wary of China and flush with economic success, Southeast Asia is ramping up spending on military hardware to protect the shipping lanes, ports and maritime boundaries that are vital to the flow of exports and energy.
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, fuelled by the promise of rich oil and gas deposits, have prompted Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei to try to offset China's growing naval power.
Even for those away from that fray, maritime security has been a major focus for Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
There's a much greater appetite for regional powers to police the commons than many advocates of huge U.S. defense budgets let on, and almost all of those powers are friendly to Washington. Seems like a perfect environment for the U.S. to do some off-shore balancing. (It also makes the "Who Needs a Navy?" argument look a bit facile.)
(AP Photo)
