Strong sales growth for China’s top defence firms as demand rises at home

8 Chinese military companies make the world’s top 100 – and more data could reveal others, think tank says

The PLA is on a push for weapons self-reliance, largely insulating it from supply-chain woes elsewhere

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Chinese companies have led strong arms sales growth in Asia. Photo: Weibo

Published: 9:01pm, 5 Dec 2022Updated: 9:09pm, 5 Dec 2022

Arms sales by top Chinese defence firms grew in 2021 at the quickest rate in five years amid growing demand from China’s military, according to an independent think tank.

In a report published on Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said eight Chinese defence companies made the world’s top 100 by sales and together accounted for US$109 billion worth of arms last year, up 6.5 per cent from 2020.

Land systems specialist China North Industries Corporation, or Norinco, led the Chinese pack by selling US$21.6 billion worth of military goods and services, an 11 per cent year-on-year increase.

Aviation Industry Corporation of China, better known as Avic, was second with US$20.1 billion.

Together the eight firms represented 18 per cent of total arms sales by the top 100 in 2021. But the Chinese contingent was a distant second to the American firms, which had 51 per cent of the top 100’s arms sales.

For decades, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been trying to wean itself from foreign-made arms and components, mostly from Russia, and develop advanced arms domestically, helped by a policy that encourages fusion of civilian and military technology.