KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Driven by tensions with China, Southeast Asian nations are building up their own military contractors to develop local expertise and reduce their dependence on big American and European arms suppliers.

Although countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia will not do away with big-ticket imports from giants like the Airbus Group or Lockheed Martin, they are increasing the number of domestic companies to manufacture military hardware locally. With regional military spending forecast to rise to $40 billion in 2016, 10 percent above last year’s level, some countries are already developing their own exports.

A domestic arms industry is a long-term economic and security goal for the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, whose members want to spend more on modernizing equipment, partly to bring military balance to the region. The goal has been given urgency, security analysts say, by China’s recent moves to press disputed claims in waters of the South China Sea, rich in oil and natural gas.

Asean members have stopped short of explicitly citing Beijing as a reason for beefing up military capability. At a meeting in Myanmar last weekend, Asean foreign ministers appealed, as they have before, for “self-restraint” in the face of heightened tensions, with no mention of China in a formal statement.