Limitation of Armaments in south-east Asia: a proposal

Abstract

The last decade has been a particularly turbulent period for South-east Asian countries, resulting in rising military expenditures and expanding arsenals within the region. Despite the ending of the war in Indo-China powerful pressures remain that are likely to provoke a continued rapid expansion of the armed forces in the region This paper attempts to identify the more important forces working in this direction and suggests a modest scheme which the countries of the region could implement to counter the influence of some of them. The main objective of this proposal is to moderate the rate of increase in military expenditure and thus minimise the constraints that this expenditure will place on economic and social development in the future. Show more