China’s Defense Industry Growing, but Still Not a Threat to the West

China’s Defense Industry Growing, but Still Not a Threat to the West
Chinese HQ-9 missile launcher during China’s 60th anniversary parade, Beijing, China, Oct. 1, 2009 (photo by Wikimedia user Jian Kang licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license).

Earlier this month, Pakistan approved a deal to buy eight Chinese submarines, in what would be China’s largest-ever arms deal. In an email interview, Joseph E. Lin, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed China’s defense exports.

WPR: What are China’s main defense exports, and who are the biggest buyers of Chinese defense equipment?

Joseph E. Lin: In the past, China’s primary defense exports were a combination of small arms and light armored vehicles, sold mostly to countries in Africa or the Middle East. In recent years, however, there has been a qualitative shift in the nature of the platforms sold. China has begun exporting far more technologically advanced weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), air defense systems and light warships.

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