By Richard Weitz
According to a new study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by the end of 2012 Asian defense spending will exceed that of all European countries for the first time in decades, perhaps centuries.
Due to a combination of the rise of China, the deepening of territorial conflicts, and the vigorous growth of most of the regional economies, Asia has seen a surge in defense spending during the past decade, with the five top spending countries (China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan).on average almost doubling their military budgets. The growth rate of these five countries aggregate defense spending has been accelerating, running at almost twice as fast during the 2005-2011 period (8 percent) than from 2000-2005 (4.5 percent).
The authors deny that we are seeing a regional arms race in which the country’s military buildups are reinforcing one another in lockstep fashion. They instead attribute the rising defense spending primarily to the growing national economies of the Asian countries, which provides them more means to buy weapons.
But they also acknowledge the rising military power of China, combined with Beijing’s new assertiveness on territorial disputes, is contributing to the desire of other Asian countries to increase their own military capabilities.
As long as these underlying conditions continue, so will the Asian military buildup, especially since several countries are in the midst of procuring expensive new weapons systems. Lockheed Martin and Boeing’s defense division anticipate that some 40 percent of their foreign revenues now come from the Asia-Pacific region.
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