China's Weapons Exports Shifting Global Balance Of Power

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Chinese weapons systems were in action in the Indo-Pakistani conflict in June. Pakistan used several Chinese-made J-10C fighters to shoot down several Indian jets, most notably the French-made Rafale fighter.

The Asian conflict sparked interest in the Chinese jet, with Egypt and Nigeria now showing interest in buying the J-10. A year earlier at the Zhuhai airshow in China, several Middle Eastern nations, including the UAE, made significant purchases of Chinese systems, following up earlier purchases of Chinese drones and fighter jets.

China's J-20 jets in action.

Chinese military companies now may have also found another potential client – Iran. Several Iranian military officials were recently photographed in the cockpit of a J-10 at the Zhuhai airshow.

The history of why China has invested significantly in military hardware is significant. Chinese military weaknesses were highlighted during the Gulf War and the third Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996. This saw China conduct missile tests in the Taiwan Strait as a signal to Taipei, which was seen as moving towards independence.

Washington deployed two carrier groups in response, consisting of two aircraft carriers and a large number of escorts. These significantly outclassed China's ships, with more firepower and more advanced technology.

At that time, Beijing was dependent on Soviet-made equipment. Its limitations were highlighted by the Chinese navy's inability to detect US submarines in the Taiwan Strait.

The need to upgrade its military led to a continuous 10% increase in the Chinese defence budget, as well as widespread military reforms. These occurred under Jiang Zemin , chairman of the Central Military Commission (the supreme military body for the Chinese Communist Party) from 1989 to 2004, and president of China from 1993 to 2003.

These changes laid the foundations for China's modernised military systems today.

Technological power

China's military modernisation has also been representative of its wider investment in technology. With some Chinese technology, such as AI chatbot DeepSeek , now challenging Western domination.

Scholars have long argued that economic power leads to greater military power and a greater global role. With the conflicts in Ukraine, South Asia, and the Middle East showing the limitations of more established European and Russian hardware, there are growing opportunities for Chinese weapons technology.