CHINA BECAME THE world’s third-largest weapons exporter over the past five years – overtaking Germany and France in the arms supply trade.
But it still trails far behind the United States and Russia on the list of the globe’s biggest military suppliers, according to a Swedish think tank.
In its annual report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said the US had “taken a firm lead” as the world’s biggest weapons seller and its share of the international trade was 31% of total volume between 2010 and 2014.
Russia’s exports increased at a faster rate over the five years, but it still trailed the US as the biggest supplier with 27% of all major weapons deals.
China leapfrogged other major European supplier as its arms exports more than doubled over the period to give it 5% of all sales by volume.
During the period, Saudi Arabia dramatically increased its imports to become the world’s second-biggest arms buyer behind only India.
US arms a ‘foreign policy tool’
SIPRI director Aude Fleurant said gulf states like Saudi Arabia had “rapidly expanded and modernized their militaries” with arms mainly from the US and Europe.
The USA has long seen arms exports as a major foreign policy and security tool, but in recent years exports are increasingly needed to help the US arms industry maintain production levels at a time of decreasing US military expenditure,” he said.
A separate analysis from IHS Jane’s recently placed Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest arms buyer by value in 2014 with its purchases worth over $6.4 billion for the year.
African arms imports also rose significantly during the five-year period and SIPRI put the change down to states such as Cameroon and Nigeria’s “urgent demand” for weapons to fight militant Islamists Boko Haram.
The figures also provided an insight into countries the major importers relied on most to kit out their militaries.
India received 70% of its imports from Russia, while Saudi Arabia got 36% of its weapons from the UK and 35% from the US.
Russia was easily China’s biggest supplier, followed by France.
The USA was the main supplier to five of the top-10 arms importers: the UAE, Australia, Turkey, South Korea and Singapore.
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