China's arms purchases fuel fears of clashes(sharp rise in arms purchase by S.E. Asia)

FT ^ | 03/14/10 | Kathrin Hille & Tim Johnston

[TigerLikesRooster]

China's arms purchases fuel fears of clashes

By Kathrin Hille in Beijing and Tim Johnston in Bangkok

Published: March 14 2010 19:12 |

Last updated: March 14 2010 21:58

Military analysts are warning that China’s increased regional power has caused its south-east Asian neighbours to step up their own defence purchases, raising the prospect that territorial disputes in the South China Sea could turn violent.

Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow at the arms transfers programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), said that several south-east Asian countries had “dramatically” stepped up their purchases of submarines, fighter aircraft, and long-range missiles in recent years.

“While south-east Asian governments . . . still don’t openly voice concerns over China, they think about it, and they are making a statement with what they are buying,” he said. “Fifteen years ago, there were the same conflicting claims in the South China Sea but the countries didn’t have the means to enforce their claims. Now, the moment somebody hits oil there, things might look very dangerous.”

Many of south-east Asia’s militaries are trying to catch up on purchases they deferred several years earlier as their countries were reeling from the Asian financial crisis.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[SunkenCiv]

Military analysts are warning that China's increased regional power has caused its south-east Asian neighbours to step up their own defence purchases, raising the prospect that territorial disputes in the South China Sea could turn violent.

Thanks TigerLikesRooster.

[TokuMei]

We need reliable, highly-persistent UAV’s for all our carriers, and SOON.

Nothing imminent, but this is absolutely the start of something.

Were I Taiwanese, I’d be very worried, and if I were Korean, I would be thinking about cyberwarefare, and getting lots of long-range ASM’s. And subs —many more.

Someone...is going to get their eye poked out.