China’s military firms fell while corruption slowed arms contract and procurement, a study showed by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
China’s top military firms fell 10% last year, while Japan’s increased 40%, Germany 36% and the United States increased with 3.8%, Reuters reports.
Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, Nan Tian, said: “A host of corruption allegations in Chinese arms procurement led to major arms contracts being postpones or cancelled in 2024.”
Mr Tian added: “This deepens uncertainty around the status of China’s military modernisation efforts and when new capabilities will materialise.”
The SIPRI report said that revenues of the world’s largest arms firms increased 5.9% to a record $679 billion.
Despite three decades of rising defence budgets in Beijing’s strategic rivalry, China’s weapons revenue continued to fall.
SIPRI researcher, Xiao Liang, said that the timeline of advanced systems for the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force, which manages its growing arsenal of ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles, could become exposed, along with aerospace and cyber programmes.
Mr Liang added: “In the medium and longer term, sustained investment in defence budgets and political commitment behind modernisation will continue, albeit with some programme delays, higher costs and tighter control of procurement.”
The Defence ministry and three Chinese companies did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
[image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_military_band_on_Palace_Square.jpg ]
