Asia Notes Surge in Military Spending
5 June 2015 07:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Countries in Asia have been spending quite a lot for military purposes over the last 10 years. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released a report saying that Asia-Pacific countries' military spending reached US$423 billion in 2014, which is 25 percent of the world total.
The surge of spending made Asia the world's second biggest region for such spending after North America, with a budget value of US$596 billion.
In the past decade, Asia-Pacific's defense spending had risen by 62 percent. According to SIPRI as quoted by The Australian, the budget increase is driven China's display of military might in the South China Sea as regional tensions intensify between it and Japan and South Korea.
Meanwhile Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia are projected to record a significant value. Intelligence consultancy firm IHS Jane's estimated that the 10 ASEAN member states will spend US$40 billion on military equipment this year, up from 2010's US 3 billion. In 2020, the defense spending of ASEAN countries could reach US$52 billion.
Some of the manufacturers that dominate the Asian market include South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Singapore Technologies Engineering (STE), and PT Dirgantara Indonesia.
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