Showing posts with label arms control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arms control. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 17, 2024

Tokyo Naval Treaty?

I toss out a couple of thoughts on modern naval arms limitation in my latest WPR column:
China, India and Japan do not appear to be on the verge of breaking the bank in an effort to match each other's construction. Still, from a vantage point of 10 or 20 years out, it might make sense for the Asian powers to think in terms of regulating their naval competition. India, China and Japan can all accomplish their national goals with a limited number of carriers. At some point, additional construction would simply spur the competitors to overbuild. A well-designed treaty on naval arms limitations would recognize economic and power imbalances between the three, take into account strategic realities and try to hold competition to within certain parameters. The motivating logic behind such a limitation runs as follows: India, China and Japan would each be as secure with four carriers as they would with eight, so long as they are assured that the others will not build eight themselves.