Asian arms race

I think Europeans should improve their military capabilities and hope they learn that lesson from the rapid Russian seizure of Crimea.

But I wish Asian countries were not sliding into an "action-reaction" arms race, as the Financial Times reports today.The FT says:

"In 2012, for the first year in modern times, Asian states spent more on defence than European ones. From India to South Korea and from Vietnam to Malaysia, governments in the region are ramping up defence spending. Even pacifist Japan, which for years has been cutting its defence outlays, has recently started to reverse the trend as it reorients its defence posture towards what it perceives as a growing Chinese threat."

The article also notes that Chinese military spending has grown eightfold in 20 years, is now second to the US, and more than Russia and UK combined.