China’s rapid economic growth helped furl its drive to modernize its armed forces so that in the first decade of the twenty-first century they had gone beyond seeking to deter as American military intervention near Taiwan to beginning the acquisition of a blue-water navy that was capable of making its power felt in the East and South china Seas. In March 2010 it was further claimed that China was building a navy for ‘deep sea defence’. There was no sign, however, of China developing a new vision for regional or global order, as its leaders continued to focus on its many domestic problems and to seek resources to feed its huge economic growth machine. Its Asian neighbours, however, benefitted greatly from the growth of the Chinese economy. Yet most distrusted China and its growing influence over them. India sought to strengthen its defences against what it saw as a resurgent giant neighbor that raised the stakes in their border dispute and that was active in establishing a presence in the Indian Ocean and in cultivating relations with Indian’s neighbours at India’s expense. Southeast Asians also strengthened their military forces in the light of China’s growing military capacities in the South China Sea and looked to others, notable the United States as a counterbalance.