China has remained a major supplier of arms to India’s neighbours with Pakistan being the largest importer of lethal weapons. Beijing accounts for at least 72% of major weaponry and artillery supplies, including fighter jets, battle tanks, submarines, guns, and warships to Islamabad, according to a report published in March by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The purchases are made under the banner of “co-production” and/or “joint programme” aiming to imply that the deliveries are for research and development, the report analysed.
According to the SIPRI’s Arms Transfer monitoring database, China emerged as the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter in 2016-2020 and accounted for 5.2% of the total arms export. Pakistan remained the main recipient, which was responsible for 38% of exports from Beijing during the given time. Between 2017 and 2021, 47% of China’s major armaments went to Pakistan.
Islamabad has several ‘large outstanding orders’ from China
The Trends in International Arms Transfers 2021 report also mentioned that the top deals between Islamabad and Beijing included some of the most-modern state-of-the-art aerial defence units like JF-17 combat aircraft and the “much improved” BLOCK 3 version at the beginning of 2022. As of now, “Pakistan has several large outstanding orders for arms. They are scheduled for delivery by 2028 and include 50 combat aircraft, 8 submarines and 4 frigates from China, and 4 frigates from Turkey,” the report added.
The report flagged that India “perceives” increasing threats from its arch-enemy Pakistan as Beijing is just not supplying combat aircraft. “With the combat aircraft come various types of guided bombs and air-to-ground missiles, as well as advanced long-range air-to-air missiles; the latter one reason for India’s acquisition of the Rafale from France which comes with the Meteor long-range air-to-air missile – [triggering] a sort of air-to-air arms race,” explained Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher with SIPRI’s program. He added delivery bid the first batch of J-10 combat aircraft to Pakistan have begun earlier this year.
US has ‘given up’ on Pakistan, turned to India: Wezeman
Owing to complex and lengthy procurement processes, India has significantly reduced its dependence on Russian arms imports and diversified its network, SIPRI said. This comes at a time when trends from the last two decades have evidently proved Pakistan’s growing reliance on China, posing a twin threat to India. Wezeman reckoned that the ongoing developments will not change anytime soon based on the US’ attitude towards Pakistan. Washington has “given up” on Islamabad and “turned more to India as its primary partner in the region,” the senior researcher said.
Moreover, the US’ focus on New Delhi has increased amid India’s rebated oil deal with Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Subsequently, US top officials have also gone on to say that military weapons dealing with Moscow are not in the “best interest” of New Delhi. Apart from this, the threat posed to Indo-Pacific open trade route due to China’s aggressive propaganda has also led Washington to acknowledge India as its notable partner in the East.