The ASEAN Naval Build-Up: Implication for the Regional Order

Since 1987 or so, the ASEAN countries have embarked on a number of programs to upgrade/expand their holdings of conventional arms despite a world-wide trend of declining
defense expenditures. The new emphasis is on maritime forces, including maritime air power.2 This ASEAN maritime re-orientation has been driven by a number of factors,
including the absence of land-based threats with the disappearance of the so-called overland "Vietnamese threat" of the 70s, the maritime nature of all the ASEAN countries, including Thailand, and the creation of new maritime regimes and frontiers.