With the escalation of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, countries around the world are spending more on their military, Time reports with reference to Rador Radio Romania.

In 2023, total global defense spending will reach $2.2 trillion, a 9% increase from the previous year, a new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank announced on Tuesday. The main drivers of this increase in costs, IISS notes: the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine and the worsening of relations between the United States and China.

In the Indo-Pacific region, geopolitical tensions between the two superpowers have increasingly pushed key countries in the region toward Washington or Beijing, and both sides have stepped up what could be seen as preparations for a potential conflict.

The U.S. and its allies Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines saw their combined defense budgets rise by about 7.4%, from about $984 billion to more than $1.05 trillion between 2022 and 2023.

The Philippines was the only country to cut its military budget in 2023, although the Southeast Asian country has expanded cooperation with the US military and strengthened its strategic role in the region over the past year amid growing disagreements with China over the disputed South China Sea. .

The largest increase among US regional partners was in Taiwan, which increased its defense budget by about $3 billion, or 20 percent, amid fears of a Chinese invasion.

“Overall, over the last 10 years in Asia, we’ve seen defense spending increase somewhat in line with economic growth,” said Fenella McGurty, senior fellow in defense economics at the IISS, during a press conference for the Military report Balance 2024. .

“But in recent years, we’ve certainly seen strategic factors come into play, a recognition that there is a need to spend more to support regional security and, in particular, to counter Chinese influence.”

On the other hand, China has found allies in North Korea and Russia, two isolated states that have criticized the Western-led international order and have also invested heavily in their militaries.

Only China spends more than its neighbors: the IISS report found that the country’s defense spending of $219.5 billion accounted for 43 percent of all defense spending in Asia last year.

And while North Korea’s defense spending is not publicly available, China and Russia together increased their military investment by 2.6 percent last year, from an estimated $416 billion spent in 2022 to $427 billion in 2023.

Meanwhile, North Korea’s regular missile tests in 2023, as well as a more open partnership and increasingly hostile rhetoric, also indicate that North Korea is focused on increasing its military power.

Experts have previously said that the prioritization of US diplomatic and defense ties in Asia does not necessarily mean the emergence of an Asian equivalent of NATO, and the fact that Russia, China and North Korea are conducting joint exercises in the Indo-Pacific region does not necessarily mean that necessarily means a prelude to war.

The IISS says China has demonstrated an “increased ability to project power,” prompting greater cooperation between the U.S. and its regional allies to act “as a counterbalance.”

Carl Dewey, an IISS research fellow in defense and military analysis, says that while defense spending may rise on “hot” security issues such as Taiwan or the South China Sea, the region’s larger economies are investing in their militaries with an eye on the future: ” What we will see is that there is a long-term positioning of their defense economies to deal with long-term threats.”