An upshot in Asian military spending comes as a result of tense relations with China, the AP reported Thursday.

Vietnam has nearly doubled its military spending, Japan is requesting its biggest-ever defense budget and the Philippines is rushing to piece together a viable navy.

Several Asian nations are arming up, their wary eyes fixed squarely on one country: a resurgent China that’s boldly asserting its territorial claims all along the East Asian coast.

The scramble to spend more defense dollars comes amid spats with China over contested reefs and waters. Other Asian countries such as India and South Korea are quickly modernizing their forces, although their disputes with China have stayed largely at the diplomatic level.

India has become the biggest arms importer in the world. China’s spending almost equals the total defense budgets of all 24 other countries in East and South Asia.