II. Arms transfers and tensions in North East Asia

Chapter:

10. International arms transfers and arms production

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2015

Author(s):

Siemon T. Wezeman, Sam Perlo-Freeman, Pieter D. Wezeman, Mark Bromley, Maaike Verbruggen, Aude Fleurant

There were a number of significant international security developments in North East Asia in 2014.¹ Relations between China and Japan deteriorated markedly due to the ongoing territorial dispute over a set of islands known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China, and their associated maritime zones in the East China Sea. This led to significant changes in Japan’s defence policy. In July 2014 Japan announced a change in its defence doctrine from the defence of Japanese territory to collective self-defence. This would allow Japanese forces to operate outside Japan to defend the territory or assets of other allies.² Tensions between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) continued to rise in 2014, due to North Korea’s aggressive military posture and its decision to accelerate the build-up of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. In the background, the political friction between China and Taiwan remained a key driver of arms acquisitions. This section describes how the tensions in North East Asia shape, and in turn are shaped by, the levels of arms transfers in the region (table 10.5).