China set to step up tear gas production as demand for crowd control weapons booms at home and abroad
- While mainland China does not currently supply the Hong Kong police force, analysts expect growing civil unrest and higher military spending to boost domestic and export markets
- Chinese-made tear gas has been used against protesters around the globe, including anti-government protests in Sudan and Venezuela
China is expected to increase its production of tear gas and other crowd control weapons because of higher demand from domestic law enforcement and from abroad, according to manufacturers and market researchers.
Although Hong Kong – where tear gas has been extensively by police during the ongoing anti-government protests – relies on foreign suppliers, mainland China produces its own supplies along with other so-called “non-lethal” weapons such as acoustic and electromagnetic equipment.
These items have been used to equip both China’s own military and riot police and have also been exported around the globe.
China started producing its own tear gas in the 1990s. Over the past decade, mainland riot police have reportedly used tear gas at some of the country’s most high-profile protests, including demonstrations against land seizures in Wukan village in the southern province of Guangdong in 2011 and 2016.
Watch: Chinese riot police clash with villagers after Wukan arrests
Media reports have also said that made-in-China tear gas was being used against protesters during Thailand’s political unrest, the Arab spring and at anti-government demonstrations in Sudan and Venezuela.