Global Security Newswire

Spending in Southeast Asia on ballistic missiles, submarines and other weapons has ballooned as regional governments eye China's rapidly increasing armed forces capabilities, the Australian Age newspaper reported on Monday.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute determined that Southeast Asian military purchases shot up by 13.5 percent in 2011 to $25.4 billion and were on track to hit $40 billion no later than 2016.

In the last decade, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam have boosted funds to their armed forces by between 66 and 82 percent, according to SIPRI figures.

Vietnam is acquiring submarines and fighter plans from Russia and has purchased ballistic missiles from Israel, according to issue experts. Indonesia, meanwhile, is procuring surveillance radars from the United States and China and submarines from South Korea. Thailand intends to purchase fighter planes and submarines capable of wielding ship-targeting missiles from Sweden.

The weapons rush coincides with efforts by China to enhance its maritime capabilities, which include development of a reliable and credible ballistic missile submarine deterrent.

"Deployment of nuclear submarines, including ballistic missile submarines, will introduce a new geostrategic dimension to the regional balance of power," Australian Defense Force Academy issue expert Carl Thayer said in an interview.

China is believed to be within two years of wielding a fleet of atomic-powered submarines that are anticipated to be loaded with up to 12 nuclear-ready ballistic missiles that in the future might be armed with more than one warhead. The status of China's evolving SLBM capability will persist as focus of the U.S. Navy, Thayer said.

President Obama, who is visiting the region this week, is carrying out a "pivot" of the U.S. military toward an increased focus on the Asia-Pacific region.