By Franz-Stefan Gady
The 2015 SIPRI Yearbook emphasizes Beijing’s critical role in aggravating tensions in East Asia.
Today, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published its 2015 Yearbook on armaments, disarmament, and international security, highlighting China’s role in fueling regional confrontation in East Asia.
“A number of significant regional military–security trends emerged in East Asia during 2014. A key aspect of these trends is China’s efforts to actively shape the regional security dynamic,” the report reads.
The 2015 Yearbook emphasizes that regional tensions have been on the rise since 2008, a lot of which can be attributed to “China’s strategic assertiveness,” which manifests itself particularly in maritime territorial disputes.
Tensions in the South China Sea are ever on the rise, the publication explains, while bellicose actions and rhetoric over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea ebbed somewhat in 2014 — SIPRI singles out the reduction of Chinese Coast Guard patrols around the islands as a sign of relaxation.
Read the full story at The Diplomat