US arms exports grow amid regional conflicts

The United States has benefited from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other regional tensions by boosting its arms sales around the world, while Russia's arms exports plunged, according to the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The US share of global arms exports jumped from 33 percent during 2013-17 to 40 percent in 2018-22, while Russia's share declined from 22 percent to 16 percent during those periods. The two countries have long been the world's top two arms exporters.

European countries increased their arms imports by 47 percent from 2013-17 to 2018-22, while the overall global level of international arms transfers decreased by 5.1 percent.

Imports have also increased due to increased military spending by European states, including Poland and Norway, and the rate of imports is expected to accelerate further, the report said.

The research institute's report, which was released on Monday, said that arms imports fell 40 percent in Africa, 21 percent in the Americas, 8.8 percent in the Middle East and 7.5 percent in Asia and Oceania. But imports in East Asia rose.

"Even as arms transfers have declined globally, those to Europe have risen sharply due to the tensions between Russia and most other European states," said Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the research institute's Arms Transfers Programme.

European countries want to import more arms quickly following the Russia-Ukraine crisis, while strategic competition has also helped arms sales, he said, citing growing arms imports in East Asia and the Middle East.

France, the world's third-largest arms exporter, expanded its share from 7.1 percent in 2013-17 to 11 percent in 2018-22.

Russia's arms exports fell in eight of its 10 biggest markets during those periods. Its arms exports to its largest client, India, declined by 37 percent, but its exports to Egypt increased by 44 percent.

Siemon Wezeman, another senior researcher with the institute's Arms Transfers Programme, said Russia's conflict with Ukraine will further limit its arms exports.

"This is because Russia will prioritize supply of its armed forces, and demand from other states will remain low due to trade sanctions on Russia and increasing pressure from the US and its allies not to buy Russian arms," he said.

The report showed that Ukraine, once a very small buyer, became the world's third-largest arms importer in 2022, trailing Qatar and India.

It revealed that arms imports by East Asian states grew by 21 percent between 2013-17 and 2018-22. Japan increased its imports by 171 percent during those periods, while South Korea expanded its arms imports by 61 percent and Australia by 23 percent. China's arms imports rose by 4.1 percent.

In a Feb 23 article by The Intercept, a nonprofit news organization, Nick Turse, a fellow at The Nation Institute, criticized the US government for its arms exports.

"America's weapons consistently stoke conflicts around the world," he wrote, citing a 2018 study by the Stimson Center, which found that the US had delivered arms to 27 of 34 countries at war in 2016.

A 2022 analysis by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a US think tank, found that roughly two-thirds of current conflicts, or 34 out of 46, involve one or more parties armed by the US.

Turse said there has been a clear association in recent years between US-made weapons and human rights abuses in some countries, and the spread of arms to terrorist groups like the Islamic State and criminal gangs in Central America.

A nationwide poll last year by the University of Maryland found bipartisan support for more oversight of US arms exports. About 60 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents and 56 percent of Republicans said they want US arms sales of more than $14 million to be approved by a congressional majority.

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn