China Emerges as Fifth Largest International Arms Exporter

An international military think-tank said in its report, that China has become the fifth largest arms exporter in the world.

After releasing the data at the Observer's Research Foundation (ORF) Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher of SIPRI said, "This is the first time China has been in the top five arms exporters since the end of the cold war."

The researcher said "A number of recent deals indicate that China is establishing itself as a significant arms supplier to a growing number of important recipient states."

Pieter Wezeman said the volume of Chinese exports of major conventional weapons rose by 162 per cent, raising its share of the volume of international arms exports from two to five per cent.

The largest supplier of major conventional weapons continues to be the United States with a share of 30 per cent of the global arms export. Russia is on the second spot, with 26 per cent of global share, while Germany is in the third position with 7 per cent global share and France is in the fourth with six per cent share.