Publication

This paper investigates developments in Asian defense expenditure and weapons acquisition patterns, focusing on conventional weapons issues in Northeast and Southeast Asia. It provides an overview of regional defense expenditure patterns since 1989 including an assessment of the impact of the Asian economic crisis and the incidents of 11 September 2001. Subsequently, it assesses the Asian states' defense priorities, concentrating on the Korean peninsula and the Taiwan Strait. The authors find that in Northeast and Southeast Asia resources are being directed toward externally oriented weapons systems, pointing to the evaluation that there is a competitive arms process.