# South China Sea primer: Conflict and Cooperation over rich resources- (2013)



## CougarKing (11 Jul 2013)

More on what's at stake in these disputed areas and the competing interests of the nations involved:




> 11 July 2013
> *Energy Cooperation in the South China Sea*
> 
> Does China covet the disputed energy reserves of the South China Sea? Only for their symbolic value, argues the CSS’s Jonas Grätz. The disputes over ownership and access enable Beijing to whip up nationalist sentiments and to promote its broader geostrategic interests.
> ...


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## a_majoor (5 Sep 2013)

Competition in the South China Sea and closer to home have convinced the Japanese to move into higher gear with their military. WRM and Via Media report:

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/09/03/japan-plans-to-arm-itself-to-the-teeth-as-neighborhood-gets-scarier/



> *Japan Plans to Arm Itself to the Teeth as Neighborhood Gets Scarier*
> 
> Japan will increase military spending by 3 percent in the coming year, the defense minister said today; it’s the biggest increase in 22 years. “There are various tensions ongoing in Asia, and in some cases, there are countries that even use threats,” the AP reports the defense minister as saying.
> The top dangers facing Japan these days are an increasingly belligerent North Korea and an aggressive China. Japan’s military plans to enhance surveillance and maintain a marine defense force that can be deployed to defend or retake far-flung islands. Japan already has the fifth-largest defense budget in the world, as Time reports, and its navy “bristles with modern submarines and surface warships, with highly trained crews.”
> ...


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