Asia is stockpiling for war. Blame China.

There's a new arms race raging

A cadet of Chinese People's Liberation Army raises a bayonet at the PLA's Armoured Forces Engineering Academy Base.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Andy Wong))

Last week, China released its official defense budget for 2015. China will spend $144.2 billion on defense this year, an increase of 10.1 percent. As large as that is, it's only part of the story.

Across Asia, defense budgets are rising at an alarming rate. The figures are in large part a response to China's aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea. They're a window into how China's neighbors to view the world — and the view isn't good.

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Kyle Mizokami is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Daily Beast, TheAtlantic.com, The Diplomat, and The National Interest. He lives in San Francisco.