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Kinling Lo

Tensions with China have pushed Asian nations including India and Japan to boost military spending, according to a global arms spending report. 
India’s defence spending rose by 5.5 per cent to US$63.9 billion in 2017, overtaking that of France as it became one of the world’s top five military spenders, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report released on Wednesday.
The United States, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia were the leading four last year in military spending. 
“The Indian government plans to expand, modernise and enhance the operational capability of its armed forces, motivated at least partially by tensions with China and Pakistan,” the report read. 
Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher for the SIPRI, said: “Tensions between China and many of its neighbours continue to drive the growth in military spending in Asia.”
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The list of the world’s biggest military spenders has remained largely consistent in recent years, dominated by the US and China, which spent US$610 billion and US$228 billion last year respectively, according to the SIPRI. 
China’s military spending was 3.6 times that of India, which was the region’s second-largest spender. 
As it goes ahead with a modernisation drive for the People’s Liberation Army, China has pledged to raise its military spending by 8.1 per cent this year, after its 2017 total showed an increase of 5.6 per cent compared with 2016. 

That increase was its slowest since 2010, but China’s share of worldwide military expenditure rose to 13 per cent in 2017 from 5.8 per cent in 2008, according to the institute.
China and India were engaged in a 72-day military stand-off at their shared Doklam border in the Himalayan region last year, the closest the two countries have come to military confrontation in half a century. 


China boosts air defences in western region as Indian border row simmers
Despite the thawing of Sino-India tensions following meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September and last weekend in China, satellite images released by US geopolitical intelligence company Stratfor in January revealed that both countries have been actively bolstering their military presence near the border.
Shashank Joshi, a senior research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said India faced a big challenge in modernising its forces.
“Clearly, India’s relations with both Pakistan and China have deteriorated over the past decade, and particularly since 2016 or so. This has not had a dramatic impact on India’s level of spending, but it has led to specific investments,” he said. 
“One of the most important is a new mountain strike corps – India’s first offensive corps directed at China rather than Pakistan – based in the east. This is being built up slowly, but surely. Other investments are being made into new aircraft carriers and combat aircraft.”
Adam Ni, a researcher on China’s foreign and security policy at the Australian National University, said India’s military spending increase was not big enough for it to catch up with China. 
He added that China’s defence spending was a “massive underestimate” of what is actually spent on defence, especially on research and development.
“India is doing what it can to improve its military to affect Beijing’s strategic calculus in favour of India. That is, to be able to impose more cost on Beijing in case of competition or conflict,” he said.
Worldwide military spending rose marginally last year to US$1.73 trillion, or roughly 2.2 per cent of global gross domestic product, the SIPRI said. 
Asian arms race is on, stoked by China’s booming defence budget
Although the report said Japan remained in eighth place for military spending, its defence outlays for the year starting April 1 were due to rise for a sixth straight year, going up by 1.3 per cent to 5.19 trillion yen (US$45.76 billion), according to a budget breakdown published by its government last month. 
Japan’s increases in defence spending represent a change in policy since the 2012 cut to the defence budget. 
“Perceived threats from China and North Korea remain the most important factors in Japan’s security strategy,” the report said. 


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India and Japan increase military spending, ‘driven by China tension’

India raised its spending during a year in which it had a border stand-off with China on the Doklam plateau. Photo: AFP

Japan Self-Defense Force (SDF) members walk in front of F-15 J/DJ Fighter during the annual Self-Defense Forces Commencement of Air Review at Hyakuri Air Base, north of Tokyo, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Asian arms race is on, stoked by China’s booming defence budget, Japanese analysts say

File photo of a Japanese military type-92 anti-mine rocket launcher firing a missile during exercises at the Higashi-Fuji firing range in Gotemba. Photo: AFP

Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force's helicopter carrier Kaga, right, along with Izumo, left, is seen in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. Japan's navy commissioned a new helicopter carrier, "Kaga," on Wednesday, which has become the second Izumo-class destroyer to join its fleet. Kaga is 248 meters (814 feet) long, 38 meters (125 feet) wide, and can carry up to fourteen helicopters. (Yoshitaka Sugawara/Kyodo News via AP)

File photo taken in September 2012 shows the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Philippine military plane shows the alleged on-going land reclamation by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, May 11, 2015. REUTERS/Ritchie B. Tongo/Pool/File Photo

(180210) -- BEIJING, Feb. 10, 2018 (Xinhua) -- An undated file photo shows a J-20 stealth fighter. China's latest J-20 stealth fighters have been commissioned into air force combat service, a spokesperson confirmed Friday. (Xinhua) (lx)

China's submarine sailing in the East China Sea is seen in this handout photo, taken on January 12, 2018 and released by Japan's Ministry of Defense. Picture taken January 12, 2018. Defense Ministry of Japan/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

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India moves into world’s top five spenders while Japan boosts its military outlay for sixth straight year, as report cites strains with neighbours


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