China is Becoming a Military Power in Southeast Asia in More Ways than People Think

Over the past fifteen years, China has increasingly become the dominant military power in Southeast Asia. At least, China has become so in the way most defense experts and political leaders think of military dominance.

In the South China Sea, for instance, where territorial waters are critical to trade and rich in fish (and possibly oil), these waters are disputed between Beijing and Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. (China also has disputes with Brunei and Indonesia over exclusive economic zones in the Sea.) China claims sovereignty over 90 percent of the Sea, even though in 2016 an international tribunal found that China’s claims were not accurate and many of its actions unlawful. Beijing has increasingly used land reclamation, aggressive moves by its ships—like ramming ships of other states—to force Southeast Asian naval and coast guard vessels and fishing boats to leave disputed areas,  and economic coercion to gain de facto control of much of the South China Sea. (Even the U.S. can really no longer guarantee freedom of navigation in the Sea.) Similarly, China’s aircraft carriers are pushing into the open ocean in the Pacific, showing Beijing is becoming a blue water power.

Yet China is becoming a dominant military force in Southeast Asia in another, less well-known way. China’s share of arms sales to Southeast Asian states has grown significantly over the past decade, as those of the United States and Russia have decreased. These Chinese arms sales, along with growing Chinese military exercises with Southeast Asian states, can foster close links between Chinese and Southeast Asian generals and make more Southeast Asian states reliant on Chinese arms platforms. For more on how China is becoming a military power in Southeast Asia in a different manner, see our new article in World Politics Review here.