This article deals principally with the military repercussions of the renewed territorial disputes in the South China Sea and the profits they bring to the U.S. war industry. It does not, therefore, discuss China’s military modernization and its impact on the SCS territorial tensions.
Just as the post-9/11 “war on terror" was used to justify the U.S.’ increased militarism in Asia Pacific and elsewhere in the world, the heightened territorial disputes in the South China Sea are now being spun to boost the Pentagon’s China encirclement strategy. The tension triggered by the territorial disputes is giving the U.S. grounds for strengthening and expanding its security relationships with traditional allies, vassal states, and other countries in the region. The immediate beneficiary of this enhanced militarism is America’s arms trade involving weapons suppliers and military training providers. Pushing their war industry is President Barack Obama’s new arms exports strategy in the region including Southeast Asia.
At a time when peaceful and diplomatic approaches may help defuse the tensions in the South China Sea triggered by the conflicting territorial claims, this renewed war environment is even stimulating an arms race among major states in the region thus further enhancing their dependency on the U.S. weapons supply chain.
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