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By WENDELL MINNICK
TAIPEI — As European and U.S. defense budgets face aggressive cuts while their governments tackle massive debt, Asian countries are continuing to spend significant amounts on defense without signs of slowing.
The top five defense spenders in Asia — China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — captured 87 percent of Asian defense spending in 2011, according to a study released by the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group under the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The study, “Asian Defense Spending, 2000-2011,” indicates that the five spent a combined $224 billion in 2011, almost twice the amount spent by those same five countries in 2000. And there have been shifts among the top spenders.
“Until 2005, Japan had the largest defense budget in Asia. Since 2005, China has been the biggest spender on defense, having previously replaced India as the second-biggest spender in 2001,” the CSIS report says.
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