Submarines: Asia’s Underwater Arms Race

China has been a good friend to Pakistan. During a visit on April 21 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Chinese pledged $46 billion in new infrastructure and energy investment in Pakistan. The two sides are working on another token of China-Pakistan friendship: a purchase by Pakistan of eight Chinese-made submarines capable of carrying anti-ship missiles. According to the official China Daily, the price tag is somewhere between $4 billion and $5 billion. The sale will more than double the size of Pakistan’s submarine fleet and help it keep pace with China and Pakistan’s mutual rival, India, which is expanding its own trove of subs.

The Pakistan purchase extends a submarine race not only on the subcontinent but also in East Asia. Of the world’s 300 submarines that are not part of the U.S. Navy (which has 73), two-thirds are in the Indo-Pacific region, Admiral Samuel Locklear told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on April 16. The region already is “the most militarized part of the world,” he said.