Chinese Arms Sales as a Potential Foreign Policy Tool

Phillip C. Saunders predicted that continuing improvements in China's defence industry will not only increase the future quality of its arms, but also the relative importance of arms sales as a foreign policy tool.

Right now, because China's defense industries still cannot produce state-of-the-art weapons systems, Chinese arms compete on the basis of price rather than capabilities. Customers tend to be cash-strapped developing countries in South Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East that are willing to trade advanced capabilities for lower cost.

"Willingness to finance purchases or to provide arms at "friendship prices" is often an important selling point. Some countries, such as Kuwait and Thailand, have purchased Chinese arms as a symbol of political cooperation." (China's Global Activism: Strategy, Drivers and Tools, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University Press, Washington DC, October 2006).