According to the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI), China overtook Germany, France, and the UK in exporting weapons between 2010 and 2014. The world’s second largest economy now accounts for about 5% of the world’s exports of arms, more than two third of which are attributed to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. The SIPRI study also found that China also had 18 African nations as clients during that five year period. In the five years leading up to 2014, China’s exports of major arms rose by 143% while Germany’s arms exports fell by 43% and France’s dropped by 27%, compared to a 16% increase in the volume of arms traded around the world. 
Despite China’s leap in the global rankings, there is still a large disparity between the top two exporters, the U.S. and Russia who accounted for 31% and 27% of the world’s weapons exported between 2010 and 2014, respectively. Exports from the two top producers also rose 23% and 37% respectively during that time period. The SIPRI compares arms sales over five year periods because of the large fluctuations in volume of arms traded year to year.
This arms production could be concerning to other countries. If you couple this information with what we know about China’s expanding navy it seems like China is well on it’s way to becoming a dominant military force.
So despite the potential, they remain bit players….either they’re in the wrong segments, or the political leadership is wary of providing strong commercial incentives to the domestic arms industry.
I found this post interesting. It’s interesting to find out where exactly these weapons are going. Is this major increase in sales because of price? From my small understanding of firearms I know that Germany is well known for their gun quality. Maybe these countries are looking for a middle ground between quality and price and China is able to provide that.
I would be interested to see how the US reacts since they are the worlds leading arms exporters. Seems like just another instance where China is beginning to threaten the US on a global level.
This can be clearly see as a political move rather than an economic one. China is clearly trying to expand its sphere of influence, and providing suitor with weapons is a time-proven technique.