Tensions with China, India and Japan increase military spending

India has increased its military spending due to the conflict with China around the disputed Doklam border. Photo: AP

India's defense spending increased by 5.5% to $63.9 billion last year, surpassing France to become one of the world's top five military spenders, SIPRI reported.

Last year, the US, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia were the top four military spenders. “The Indian government plans to expand, modernise and enhance the operational capabilities of its armed forces, partly driven by tensions with China and Pakistan,” the report said.

“Tensions between China and many of its neighbours continue to be a factor driving strong increases in military spending in Asia,” said Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at SIPRI.

According to SIPRI, the United States and China have been the two largest military spenders in recent years, spending $610 billion and $228 billion, respectively, last year. China's military spending was 3.6 times that of India, the second-largest spender in the region.

As Beijing pushes to modernize its People's Liberation Army (PLA), the country has pledged to increase military spending by 8.1 percent in 2018.

Although Sino-Indian relations have shown signs of thawing following meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year and most recently last weekend in China, satellite images released by the US geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor in January showed that the two countries are still actively increasing their military presence near the border area.

Meanwhile, although the SIPRI report showed that Japan still ranked eighth in military spending, its defense spending in the fiscal year that began on April 1 increased by 1.3 percent to 5.9 trillion yen ($45.76 billion), marking the sixth consecutive year of increases.

Japan's increased defense spending represents a shift in policy since the defense budget was cut in 2012. "The clear threats from China and North Korea remain the most important factors influencing Japan's security strategy," the report said./.