South China Sea Naval Arms Race Underway

Strategy Page: Background to Asia's Expensive Naval Arms Race

Using land reclamation techniques, China has constructed "territorial facts" in the South China Sea by turning uninhabitable "features" like rocks, shoals and reefs into islands. From these fabrications, China projects economic claims and military power.

...Hence, the warship binge. StrategyPage provided very approximate but illustrative numbers. In the next 20 years, Asian nations will buy some 400 major warships and 1,000 small patrol vessels and support ships. At least 80 (perhaps 100) of the major vessels are submarines. China loves subs. Chinese subs trail U.S. ships. But worried neighbors know that their diesel subs can ambush Chinese ships trying to protect, well, Fiery Cross.