Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 02/2013

Asian Defense Spending, 2000–2011

David J. Berteau, Guy Ben-Ari, Joachim Hofbauer, Priscilla Hermann, Sneha Raghavan

October 2012

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Abstract

This report analyzes the defense budgets of the five countries with the largest defense budgets in Asia: China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Unlike defense budgets in many other regions, defense spending in these five countries has been on the rise for over a decade. For each country, the report examines overall defense spending for the years 2000 to 2011 as well as spending on acquisition, personnel, operations and maintenance (O&M) and research and development (R&D). It closes with several key findings and suggestions for further research.