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Asian Sub Spending Spree Raises Risks of Mistakes, Escalation

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Posted: May 31st, 2017

By Koh Swee Lean Collin

Koh Swee Lean Collin is associate research fellow at the Institute of Strategic and Defence Studies, a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies based in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Collin primarily researches on naval affairs in the Indo-Pacific, focusing on Southeast Asia (see here). He can be reached at [email protected].  

For more than a decade, Asian countries have been on a submarine spending spree. Some countries are updating obsolete vessels while others are purchasing submarines for the first time. This trend has largely been driven by growing concerns nations have over maintaining a deterrent against an increasingly assertive China broadly, but also rivalries with neighbors and a desire to maintain technological parity with rivals. The Cipher Brief spoke to Collin Koh Swee Lean, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Defence Studies in Singapore, to learn more about the effect these submarine purchases may have on conflict escalation and the new technologies employed by these submarines.

The Cipher Brief: What geopolitical dynamics are driving Asian countries to procure more submarines?

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