China arms exports continue to surge
naky
www.diecastingpartsupplier.com
2016-02-25 17:01:15
The study of the global arms trade from 2011 to 2015 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that Beijing’s weapons exports have nearly doubled in five years and are concentrated on neighbours of India — mainly Pakistan but also Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The figures are likely to add to international fears over Beijing’s growing military influence and stoke further friction with neighbouring India. The sum total of the data showed an unmistakable military build-up across Asia, as the nations of the region contend with China’s rise.
China’s biggest client during the past five years was Pakistan, which bought 35 per cent of the country’s arms exports. Pakistan was followed by Bangladesh and Myanmar, also neighbours of India, which accounted for 20 per cent and 16 per cent of Chinese arms exports respectively.
Beijing’s rapid military expansion has sparked security fears around the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in response to China’s muscular defence of its maritime claims in the South China Sea. India was the world’s largest importer during the 2011-2015 period, accounting for 14 per cent of global arms imports, and China’s other neighbours have also begun to beef up their arsenals.
Vietnam, for example, which faces an increasingly intractable confrontation with China over South China Sea Islands, saw arms imports rise by a massive 699 per cent to hit 2.9 per cent of global imports, according to Sipri.
Six of the 10 biggest arms importers in the five-year period were in Asia and Oceania, Sipri said. In addition to India, China and Vietnam, Australia accounted for 3.6 per cent, Pakistan for 3.3 per cent and South Korea for 2.6 per cent.
Last year Sipri announced China had boosted exports of military weapons and equipment by 143 per cent over the previous five years to usurp Germany as the world’s third-largest arms trader.