China has surpassed Germany to become the world’s third-largest arms exporter, but the United States and Russia remain the dominant sellers of weapons worldwide, according to statistics released on Monday by a research organisation in Sweden.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said China surpassed Germany in 2010-14. With just five per cent of total exports for that period, China’s share was far below that of the United States, at 31 per cent, or Russia, at 27 per cent.
Although its share of overall sales remained small, China’s exports increased by 143 per cent in 2010 to 2014, compared with the previous five-year period, Sipri said. (The organization looks at arms sales over five-year blocks to smooth out jumps from year to year).
Arms exports by the United States increased by 23 per cent over the previous five years; Russia’s increased by 37 per cent.
After global arms sales fell over most of the 1980s and ’90s, they have increased in recent years, with the 2010-14 volume 16 per cent higher than that of the previous five years, according to the report.
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