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“What I see is a lot of activity going on in these strategic, industrial areas, these technological areas,” said Sarah Raine, a fellow for geopolitics and strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
“A lot of it though is in parallel rather than in co-ordination, and quite a bit of it is going to be in competition, frankly,” she said at an IISS event on Wednesday.
Ms Raine highlighted the example of the EU’s efforts to break into the iron lithium batteries market, even as Britain pushes forward with its own initiatives to “position itself in the global battery market”.
According to the latest Military Balance report, global defense spending for 2020 stood at $1.83 trillion, an increase of 3.9 percent in real terms. The annual publication produced by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) noted that this was only “slightly lower” compared to 2019. Global military expenditures as a percentage of GDP went up from an average of 1.85 percent in 2019 to 2.08 percent in 2020. The Military Balance report further noted that global economic output had been severely impacted by the pandemic, seeing a contraction of 4.4 percent. Despite the economic downturn, military spending has been maintained almost at the same level of the previous year. This at least partly illustrates the growing security competition that is clearly feeding growing military spending. It is unlikely that this trend will reverse in the near term because there is no guarantee that the security environment in the Indo-Pacific will ease up anytime soon.
New report flags Chinese push to field support ships, planes for greater reach February 25
Sailors stand near fighter jets on the deck of the Chinese People s Liberation Army Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning as it participates in a naval parade near Qingdao, in eastern China s Shandong province, on April 23, 2019. (Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images) LONDON and COLOGNE, Germany The Chinese military’s buildup is increasingly focused on ferrying forces to faraway places, with new logistics capabilities coming online quickly, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. The assessment is included in the think tank’s Military Balance 2021 report, an annual compendium of defense goings-on around the world, released Feb. 25. The focus on China’s growing logistical capabilities in the air and at sea comes after experts have long chronicled Beijing’s efforts to field modernized weaponry aimed to turn the country into a superpower.