While Islamabad remains Beijing’s traditional business partner when it comes to weapons and military equipment, it’s Dhaka that’s emerging as the prime buyer of weapons made in China.
This has been revealed for the first time in 10 years when last week, China submitted a report on its exports and imports of major conventional arms for year 2006 to the United Nations.
And outside South Asia, Africa is China’s new destination for weapons supplies.
This has implications for India. Given that the military holds the levers of power in both Pakistan and now Bangladesh, too, China’s weapons trade brings a new dimension to India’s engagement with its two neighbours.
India’s only defence export between 2000 and 2005 has been the sale of six L-70 anti-aircraft guns to Sri Lanka two years ago. New Delhi never openly admitted to this — wary of domestic political repercussions — but has indicated it in its annual submission to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
The seven categories on which this reporting is done are battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships (including submarines) as well as missiles and missile-launchers.
According to its declaration to the UN, China has sold 65 large-calibre artillery systems, 16 combat aircraft and 114 missile and related equipment to Bangladesh last year.
A scrutiny of Bangladesh’s report to the UN also confirms the growing profile of China as its major arms supplier over the last three years.
The 65 artillery systems shown as exports to Bangladesh in China’s report are further sub divided in Dhaka’s import list: 18 122-mm Howitzers and 16 rocket launchers. In 2005, 20 122-mm guns were imported from China.
Besides this, some 200 small arms like pistols and sub-machine guns have been imported along with regular 82-mm mortars.
Interestingly, the other keen supplier to Bangladesh is Pakistan which sold 169 anti-tank Bakhtar Shikan missiles to Bangladesh in 2004.
China’s 1996 record shows that its principal buyers were Pakistan and Iran, which purchased five warships, five combat aircraft and over 100 missiles and missile launchers. A decade later, the profile has changed with Pakistan (10 battle tanks) still on the list as a traditional importer of Chinese equipment. Bangladesh tops the list and the rest of the concentration is in Africa.
China has sold four armoured combat vehicles to Congo, six to Gabon and two to Tanzania. Six combat aircraft each have been exported to Namibia and Zimbabwe. Outside Africa, the one-time large export is to Jordan of 150 large calibre artillery systems.
A decade ago, China stopped providing this information to the UN because US had mentioned Taiwan in a footnote while explaining some of its exports.
An angry China had then remarked that the UN register is a “register of legitimate transfers” and that Taiwan being a “province of China”, any arms transfer between US and Taiwan is “illegitimate”.
With US deciding, of late, to no longer make such a mention in its reports, Beijing last week took a decision to file the arms transfer report as well as tell UN about its military spending.
“In light of the fact that a certain country has stopped providing data on its illegal arms sales to the Taiwan province of China to the UN Register of Conventional Arms, China decides to resume providing annually the data of its imports and exports of conventional arms in the seven categories to the Register from this year,” the Chinese representative in Geneva told relevant UN bodies.
As for its own purchases, China indicates importing two warships from Russia and a little over 1500 missile and missile launching equipment from Russia and Ukraine. There are no other imports in any of the other categories.
