Abstract
Abstract: The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the regions with the most dynamic and intense military activity in the world. This is largely due to commercial and political interests linked to the region, which is crucial for global maritime trade and rich in natural resources. China is the most interested party in the SCS, claiming 90% of its entire area, a portion referred to by Beijing as the “nine-dash line.” The present article seeks to analyse both quantitatively and qualitatively the influence of China on the military spending of four Southeast (SE) Asian countries that are also interested in the SCS: Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. For quantitative analysis, we used the data for military expenditure, armaments acquisition, the frequency and type of incidents involving national navies and/or civilians. For qualitative analysis, we retrieved information from hemerographic sources and official documents from the United States, China, SE Asian countries, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the World Bank (WB).
Keywords
South China Sea; Southeast Asia; China; military spending; military build-up.
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Source: Created by the authors with data from SIPRI (2019).
Source: Created by the authors with data from World Bank (2018).
Source: Created by the authors with data from SIPRI (2019).
Source: United States Department of Defence (2012).
Source: Created by the authors with data from ChinaPower Raw Incident Data (2020).
Source: Created by the authors with data from ChinaPower Raw Incident Data (2020).
Source: Created by the authors with data from ChinaPower Raw Incident Data (2020).