China’s defense budget will double by 2015, making it more than the rest of the Asia Pacific region’s combined, according to a report from IHS Jane’s, a global think tank specializing in security issues.
Beijing’s military spending will reach $238.2 billion in 2015, compared with $232.5 billion for rest of the region, according to the report. That would also be almost four times the expected defense budget of Japan, the next biggest in the region, in 2015, the report said.
I’ve said this before, and it bears repeating: China intends to become militarily dominant over all of Asia, and this is reflected in their defense spending.
In my opinion, this is only the beginning. As things stand now, the U.S. Navy is the dominant force in the Pacific, and the Chinese don’t like it. And they intend to do something about it.
They will militarily challenge us and our allies on all fronts in the region, and they will attempt to establish enough of a naval presence to make that point increasingly clear. That presence will include new naval vessels and aircraft designed to ensure command and control over their areas of interest and beyond; an expansionist policy, to be sure.