Military Multipolarity in the South China Sea

... operating in the near-ocean zone. It can be argued that countering U.S. Naval forces has not been put to the fore yet and the emphasis is laid on containing regional rivals and a gradual access to the high seas. The improved technical level and the growing fleet size do not give China a decisive maritime superiority in the region, but inevitably pose a threat to key countries of the Asia-Pacific [19] . Crawling tigers South-East Asia is the most dynamic region in terms of military activity. The Southeast Asian arms market is relatively small: the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates it collectively worth only $2 billion to $3 billion annually . However, it is quite diverse in terms of suppliers: in contrast to ...