China is hot on the heels of US and Russia in arms export league
China has become the world’s third largest exporter of arms after the US and Russia, according to a new report, accounting for five per cent of the overall total.
China overtook Germany, France and the UK in exporting weapons between 2010 and 2014, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, accounted for more than two-thirds of those exports.
The world’s second largest economy also had 18 African nations as clients during the five-year period, according to the study, which said the data reflected the volume of arms deliveries and not the financial value of the deals.
China’s exports of major arms rose by 143 per cent in the five years to 2014 from the previous five years.
Meanwhile, Germany’s arms exports fell by 43 per cent, while France’s dropped 27 per cent in the same period. Israel was the 10th biggest arms exporter in the world with two per cent of the market.