56 Chapter Four
Taiwan spend a considerable amount on the military. Furthermore, it is
important to note that China has security stakes beyond South East Asia.
There is still a latent military rivalry with powerful India, for example (see
Holslag 2009), and in many provinces the internal security situation is
imperfect (Glosny, Saunders 2010). However, it would be a mistake to
underestimate China’s military power, namely her potential to strengthen
and significantly modernize her land, air, and naval forces (on China’s
naval nationalism and attempts to build a powerful blue navy see Ross
2009).
Figure 4-2: Balance of power in SEA^4
Relative nominal GDP
(2012 IMF)Relative military
expenditures (SIPRI)China (PRC) 100 100Japan 72,4 35,5S. Korea 13,7 18,7
Taiwan 5,9 6,3Vietnam 1,8 1,5
Philippines 3,0 0,9The balance of power is, however, influenced by the geographical
configuration of the region. It is obvious that South East Asia is an
example of a fragmented region. There are multiple islands and
peninsulas, and therefore the geopolitical setting is quite different when
compared with (for example) Cold War Europe. Generally speaking,
China occupies the continental land mass and is located at the center of the
region. Around China there is a string of islands where Japan, Taiwan, the
Philippines, and Indonesia are located. In addition, the two Koreas are
located on the peninsula adjacent to north-east China, and Vietnam and
other smaller nations (Laos, Cambodia) lie on the South East Asian
peninsula. This geographical configuration has several key implications.
First, the role of naval power and navies in general is extremely elevated
(^4) Source: International Monetary Fund, SIPRI – Stockholm, Note: the table
displays relative numbers. The value of the strongest is fixed as 100 and values of
weaker states are expressed as a relative values related to the strongest state.