US will expand arms sales to ‘like-minded nations’ to counter China, Russia, defence chief says

United States also needs to help build capabilities of friendly militaries and boost ties with them, Mark Esper says

He calls for defence industry to compete with Beijing and Moscow by taking a new approach to exports

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US Defence Secretary Mark Esper says a system is in place “to ensure our partners get the equipment and systems they need, when they need them”. Photo: AP

Published: 8:15pm, 21 Oct 2020Updated: 10:44pm, 21 Oct 2020

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper says the United States will expand arms sales to “like-minded nations” to counter efforts by China and Russia to take a bigger share of the weapons market.

The Pentagon chief also said the US needed to help build the capabilities of friendly militaries and boost ties to jointly tackle challenges posed by America’s “primary competitors” – China and Russia.

“[We] must compete with China and Russia, whose state-owned industries can fast-track military exports in ways that we cannot – and would never want to in many cases,” Esper said in an address to the Atlantic Council think tank on Tuesday.

“As Beijing and Moscow work to expand their share of the world’s weapons market, they attract other countries into their security networks, challenge the United States’ efforts to cultivate relationships, and complicate the future operating environment at the same time.”

The US wants to deny market space to China and Russia. Photo: AP

To better compete with Beijing and Moscow, Esper said his department would take more of a strategic enterprise approach to foreign military sales, a process which has been described by foreign militaries as “too slow, opaque and complicated”.