| After the Cold War ended,the global military situation tended to ease along with the passing of bi-polar confrontation.East Asia,with its remarkably impressive socio-economic development,became one of the world’s few remaining peaceful regions.In some respects,however,there were no substantial shifts in the old order of the Cold War era,which lagged in regional cooperation and still contained serious security dilemmas,and the trend of military expenditure and arms procurement in many East Asian nations continued to rise.Along with the substantial changes occurring in the international structure of the East Asian region,and considering the region’s history and for practical reasons,each state stepped up the modernization process of national defense and began to increase military expenditure and enlarge armaments.The remarkable speed with which East Asian nations have enhanced the level and quality of their military weapons technology has,especially in recent years,raised concerns in the international community,views regarding a regional arms-race are popular,and "China-threat theory" has once again become widely reported.In this context,employing a scientific methodology and attitude in the systematic study of military developments in post-Cold War East Asian nations has both theoretical and practical significance.A detailed analysis of armament development in East Asia is needed so that a more comprehensive and objective conclusion can be reached.Therefore,while this thesis is based on the study of history,it will simultaneously emphasize the principle of combining theory with practice and utilize a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to study armament development in East Asia.Using military expenditure and the transfer of major conventional weapons for each country as a starting point of analysis,this thesis then makes a detailed analysis and summary of the development,characteristics,motivation and current tableau of arms development in East Asia during the post-Cold War period,and building on this foundation,will also reflect deeply on the region’s security situation and development trends.The paper is divided into six parts,including the introduction,four chapters and conclusion.The first part is the introduction,which will elaborate fundamental problems in the research of armament development in East Asian states during the post-Cold War period.The first section includes the background and significance of the topic selection;the second section is a literature review of the status quo in research from China and abroad;the third section explains research ideas and approaches;and the fourth section describes innovation and defects.Part two conducts an overview and analysis of developments in military expenditure for the East Asian region during the post-Cold War period.There are two aspects here,the first is the absolute amount of military expenditure,which is separated per global,regional,and state influences as well as for exchange rates;the second aspect is the relative amount,which covers military expenditure by country as a percentage of gross domestic product,and military expenditure per armed forces personnel and the Global Militarization Index.Part three discusses and analyzes development status for transfers of weapons in the East Asian region during the post-Cold War period.The research consists primarily of two sections,weapons imports and exports,and particularly focuses on the analysis of weapons imports,which is again divided into an overview of global weapons imports,imports for the region,and imports per East Asian nation,as well as the proportion of various types of weapons and the major supplier of arms.In addition,because the East Asian region is not a main producer of arms,weapon exports will only be discussed briefly.Part four introduces the present situation for armament development in the East Asian region.This part mainly includes military expenditure,the size of conventional armed forces and personnel,and provides an overview of weaponry.Since the end of the Cold War.by way of arms transfers,and as well as independent research and development supported by vast defense budgets,the technical level and quality of arms in East Asian nations has developed swiftly.Through more than 20 years of development,this rapid increase in technology and quality of weapons in East Asian nations has dramatically enhanced their military capabilities.Part Five elucidates the motivation behind armament development in East Asian states in the Post-Cold War era,and research primarily focuses on the following two areas:the security dilemma and the composite effect of exogenous and endogenous factors.First,the contemporary East Asian community has been characterized by anarchy,which results in all states believing that "self-help",rather than cooperation,is the only way to realize national security.However,through the act of pursuing security via "self-help",each state inevitably raises the concern of neighboring states,and as a consequence of this,all nations inexorably sink into the security dilemma.Second,while the development of armaments in the East Asian region has its origins in the external provocation caused by the security dilemma,it also arises from the rational internal needs of the state,including economic growth,periodic upgrading of weaponry.the institutionalization of military production,domestic politics and threats to internal security.At the same time,the compulsory nature of technology acts powerfully,internally and externally,to influence the development of armaments.The conclusion forms the final part,it reviews armaments development in the East Asian region in the post-Cold War era,then draws several conclusions to form the main thrust of this thesis:First,holistically speaking,a classical arms race does not yet exist in the East Asian region,armaments development is the aggregate outcome of several functional elements,but there has indeed been a trend of armament competition in local areas within the region.Second,the rapid growth of China’s military is commensurate with its national strength,and China’s peaceful foreign policy and defensive military strategy ensure that the development of Chinese arms will not inevitably lead to an arms race in East Asia.Third,looking forward,competition of armaments development may set to intensify in the East Asia region,but it will be within a controllable range,and regional security and stability will still be the main trend in development. |
