Hungry China sees more riches than war in Afghan future

China Readies ‘Silk Road’ Spending Spree

The China led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has its war chest ready for action. Bank president Jin Liqun said on Tuesday that the bank has approved a $1.2 billion lending portfolio this year and will make those projects known on June 24.

The AIIB is China’s answer to the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, with a $100 billion to put to work. It launched last year to much fanfare, except here in the U.S. Even our long-time ally in the Brits joined the bank. The U.S. remained officially on the sidelines in what is supposed to be the lending arm of China’s Silk Road revitalization project. Think of it as a way for China to develop backward, backyard neighboring states in the ‘Stans, as well as tiny frontier markets from Pakistan to the Azerbaijan.

The World Bank said it will jointly fund some of the projects this year, which is akin to defacto U.S. involvement. The U.S. holds the greatest voting power inside the Bank.

Earlier this week, Liqun met with global executives from 15 multinationals anxious to hop on China’s silk road, also known as the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative (OBOR). “The Belt and Road Initiative serves as a road map for how China will further integrate itself into the global economy,” he said. It “brings new opportunities and a new future to China and every country along these developing trading routes.”

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

disney.china

Bob Iger tells us about Disney’s $5.5 billion bet on China

Walt Disney opened its first Disneyland in mainland China Wednesday, with the theme park being described as “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.”

CEO Bob Iger spoke with CNBC’s Eunice Yoon about the event, which Iger called the “biggest step” the company has taken in an overseas market. Read the full exchange below.

CNBC: Why is the park so important for Disney’s ambitions in China?
Iger: Well, China represents a great market for the Walt Disney because our stories are not only known here but they are universal in appeal, they touch people’s hearts all over the world, no matter what country, no matter what culture. So this is, I think, a great market for Disney and a growth market as well. Obviously the size of the market, the number of people, is another reason, but , and this is an extremely [big] step —or the biggest step, actually — that we’ve ever taken anywhere to grow in a market.

CNBC: What is the next step for Disney in this market?
Iger: Well, I don’t know that there is a next step; there are a number of steps. We continue to grow our motion picture business. So far, most of that has been exporting films that we make in other parts of the world into China; that’s delivered great growth. China is now the No. 2 movie market in the world. We also plan to make Disney movies here; we’ve actually started that process. With the strength of the Disney brand and the knowledge of Disney characters, there’s a growing retail business here. And, in part because of digital technology but in part just because of the growth of the market, there are all sorts of opportunities in television, although there we continue to face regulation that makes it a little more difficult.

CNBC: So, how does this park help with the other parts of the business in this market?
Iger: Well, it clearly will serve as sort of a booster rocket for people’s appreciation of Disney, the knowledge that Disney is universal in appeal to people, appreciation and knowledge of characters and stories. An immersive park experience the Disney way is something that people will remember for the rest of their lives, and that goes a long way in terms of not just creating word of mouth, but in terms of creating people’s interest in passion for our brand and everything that it stands for and everything that bears its name, as a for instance. So it becomes very, very important, not just in terms of awareness but appreciation.

Walt Disney opened its first Disneyland in mainland China Wednesday, with the theme park being described as “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.”

CEO Bob Iger spoke with CNBC’s Eunice Yoon about the event, which Iger called the “biggest step” the company has taken in an overseas market. Read the full exchange below.

CNBC: Why is the park so important for Disney’s ambitions in China?
Iger: Well, China represents a great market for the Walt Disney because our stories are not only known here but they are universal in appeal, they touch people’s hearts all over the world, no matter what country, no matter what culture. So this is, I think, a great market for Disney and a growth market as well. Obviously the size of the market, the number of people, is another reason, but , and this is an extremely [big] step —or the biggest step, actually — that we’ve ever taken anywhere to grow in a market.

CNBC: What is the next step for Disney in this market?
Iger: Well, I don’t know that there is a next step; there are a number of steps. We continue to grow our motion picture business. So far, most of that has been exporting films that we make in other parts of the world into China; that’s delivered great growth. China is now the No. 2 movie market in the world. We also plan to make Disney movies here; we’ve actually started that process. With the strength of the Disney brand and the knowledge of Disney characters, there’s a growing retail business here. And, in part because of digital technology but in part just because of the growth of the market, there are all sorts of opportunities in television, although there we continue to face regulation that makes it a little more difficult.

CNBC: So, how does this park help with the other parts of the business in this market?
Iger: Well, it clearly will serve as sort of a booster rocket for people’s appreciation of Disney, the knowledge that Disney is universal in appeal to people, appreciation and knowledge of characters and stories. An immersive park experience the Disney way is something that people will remember for the rest of their lives, and that goes a long way in terms of not just creating word of mouth, but in terms of creating people’s interest in passion for our brand and everything that it stands for and everything that bears its name, as a for instance. So it becomes very, very important, not just in terms of awareness but appreciation.

CNBC: How are Chinese consumers different from others?
Iger: Well, in many respects as it relates to Disney, they’re not different at all. In fact, they’ve confirmed to us what our founder Walt Disney believed all the way back in his day, and that is that our stories are designed not just for one age group —children or parents or grandparents—not just one nationality, not just for one religion, nor generation; they’re designed for everybody, and he was right. And because of that, the consumer we’re seeing now is really behaving as it relates to interest in Disney the same way consumers behave when interest in Disney is ignited all over the world.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

chinese cinema

China will be bigger for the box office than the US

China will be bigger for the box office than the US next year: PwC

China — not the U.S. — is projected to be the leader in box office revenue in 2017, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The PwC projections were released on Wednesday in the new “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2016-2020: A World of Differences” report.

If true, it will mark the first time that the U.S. has not been the top revenue driver in an entertainment and media segment. The Chinese box office is expected to generate $10.3 billion next year, while the U.S. will be at $10.1 billion. By 2020, the Chinese box office will reach $15.1 billion versus just $11 billion in the U.S.

Matt Lieberman, director at PwC, told CNBC that it is seeing Chinese general audiences especially look for fantasy, animation and family-friendly movies.

China’s restrictive media environment does pose some issues. It currently only allows 34 non-Chinese movies a year, meaning that Hollywood will have to compete with other global producers to get into the country.

As a result, Deborah Bothun, global leader in entertainment and media and U.S. leader of entertainment, media and communications at PwC, said there will be more American media companies seeking out Chinese media partners to help them navigate the rules. Already the Chinese digital-savvy middle class has been attracting many U.S. media companies, including Vice Media and The Hollywood Reporter.

“Because of the genre and content restrictions, there’s opportunities to be on the ground, but (media companies) need to work with someone local to understand restrictions,” Bothun said at an event for the report.

There’s also the issue that the Chinese box office has a less generous revenue split with media companies than existing deals in the U.S.

China gave up 25 percent of box office revenue in 2016, up from 13 percent the year before, according to Lieberman. However, most deals in the U.S. are around 50 percent. There’s also issues around tracking and auditing Chinese box office receipts, he added.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

China Oil and Gas

No big bang, but quiet reforms reshaping China’s oil and gas sector

Expect no radical “big bang” in China’s shake-up of its giant state-run energy firms, but a series of experimental and incremental steps that Beijing has quietly embarked on may still bring meaningful change to an economically crucial sector.

Reform of sprawling state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to improve efficiency is a priority for China’s leaders as growth slows in the world’s second biggest economy, and was a key plank of the country’s latest five-year plan agreed in 2015.

For some sectors that means mega-mergers, such as the marriage last year of top train makers China CNR Corp Ltd and China CSR Corp Ltd, to create national champions with the heft to compete on the world stage.

Speculation of a similar tie-up in the oil sector has proved unfounded, and Beijing-based industry executives say the bolder privatization proposals put forward by some government think-tanks – from opening mining rights to private bidders to breaking up PetroChina’s pipeline monopoly – look equally remote.

Instead, Beijing is ushering in moderate pilot-based changes – granting private refiners oil licenses, encouraging a first private-led mega-refinery and overhauling the management of state-run assets – steps that seem fragmented but share a common goal of boosting efficiency across the sector.

China’s energy sector is dominated by three state giants: China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China Petrochemical Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corp.

Despite decade-low oil prices, the listed arms of that trio – PetroChina (0857.HK), Sinopec Corp (0386.HK) and CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) – booked a combined $600 billion revenue last year and contributed nearly 9 percent of all the profits from China’s state-owned enterprises (SOE), official data showed.

“At the end of the day, big SOEs like CNPC and Sinopec are seen as key stabilizing factors to the national economy,” said a senior PetroChina official.

“That means the government wants to maintain strong control over the sector and changes will be paced and moderate.”

SERVICES FIRMS TO LIST

Spinning off parts of the energy giants’ businesses will be one element of the reform package.

Top energy firm CNPC, China’s leader in oil and gas exploration and production, will spend the next 2-3 years restructuring its enormous services division, which employs nearly 1 million people, executives said.

CNPC is aiming to set up three or four companies covering oilfield drilling, refinery engineering and financial services, with a target to list them on the stock market by around 2018, according to two senior CNPC officials.

“Timing could be perfect as we expect oil prices to climb back to $70 and above by 2018, which should help CNPC fetch attractive valuations for the oil/gas services engineering IPOs,” said Gordon Kwan of Nomura research.

The rise of independent refiners – so-called “teapots” – since Beijing allowed them to start importing crude in July last year is already disrupting the refining business of Sinopec and PetroChina.

Their emergence has also had a huge impact on global oil markets as their crude imports have acted as a core pillar of support in an otherwise oversupplied market.

The next step could be bringing “mixed ownership” – the model Beijing has touted for introducing private investment in its most far-reaching overhaul of the state sector in two decades – to larger-scale operations.

A pilot scheme in Zhoushan, eastern China, demonstrates how that might look in the energy sector – private investors are leading a project for a $15 billion mega-petrochemical complex that could compete head-to-head with Sinopec.

ASSET MANAGEMENT MODEL

A low-profile experiment at a Sinopec overseas unit badly hit by the collapse in the price of oil over the last 18 months offers evidence that changes in how state assets are managed may be the next phase of the reform process.

Orchestrated by the state asset regulator, Sinopec last month tapped China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd and China Reform Holdings as strategic investors at SIPC, its overseas exploration and production vehicle that operates multi-billion assets that include Canadian oil sands and deep-sea concessions in Brazil.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

Tesla Model X Launched On The Chinese Car Market

Tesla Model X Launched On The Chinese Car Market

The Tesla Model X has been launched on the Chinese car market, with deliveries set to start later this month. There are three variants available: the Model X 90D, the Model X P90D, and the China-only Model X P90D Signature Red edition. The Model X 75D base model is not available in China, but might be added to the lineup later.

The 90D retails for 961,000 yuan, the P90D for 1.15 million yuan, and the Signature Red does a whopping 1.47 million yuan. That translates to $147,000, $176,000, and $225,000 respectively. For comparison, in the U.S. the 95D costs $95,500 and the P90D $115,500. Chinese buyers need to pay a 100,000 yuan deposit when they reserve their Model X.

The enormous difference is caused partly by import taxes, counting for about one third of the price, and partly by healthy entrepreneurship. Chinese car buyers are very eager to pay more to get their hands on a Tesla, especially on the new Model X, which is after all an SUV, the most popular body style in China.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

China’s Ant Financial Now Valued at $60 Billion

China’s Ant Financial, Now Valued at $60 Billion, Draws Mighty Allies

Company tapped state lenders and financial firms for most of its record-breaking $4.5 billion funding round

By Kane Wu

The financial affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., whose leader, Jack Ma, once made headlines for squaring off against the country’s banks, is now building ties with them.

Ant Financial Services Group—the operator of China’s answer to PayPal—tapped state lenders and financial firms for most of its record-breaking $4.5 billion funding round, which closed Tuesday, valuing the privately held company at roughly $60 billion. The round was led by sovereign-wealth fund China Investment Corp. and Chinese state lender China Construction Bank Corp. , and it comes a year after another nearly $2 billion funding round that drew the country’s National Social Security Fund and big state insurers.

The growing investment from state financial companies underscores the increasing importance of Ant Financial in China’s financial system. Just two years ago, the company, which is controlled by Mr. Ma, was considered a scrappy outsider whose popular financial offerings—particularly an online investment fund called Yu’e Bao—were at times a cause of friction with Chinese banks.

“What determines success in the market shouldn’t be the monopolies and those with power, but the consumers,” Mr. Ma said in early 2014, after a number of state lenders put limits on how much depositors could transfer to Ant’s payments platform, Alipay. China Minsheng Banking Corp. ’s then-chairman, Dong Wenbiao, in turn questioned Alibaba’s financial ambitions at the 2014 Bo’ao Forum in southern China: “I said to Jack Ma, ‘Give up your reform efforts. You don’t have the ability.’ ”

Now, Ant is one of the most highly valued private technology companies in the world and its Alipay service handles an estimated 58% of all online payments in the country, according to Credit Suisse Group AG. It has also started an online lender, MYBank. Some of those same Chinese state institutions are investing billions of yuan in Ant, and stand to benefit from its success and the future riches an initial public offering could bring.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

China Is About to Launch Its Space Program Into High Gear

China Is About to Launch Its Space Program Into High Gear

By Ryan Faith

The Chinese government has been making bold announcements about the future of its space program — space stations, Mars rovers, Moon landings, the whole shebang. And in addition to being of note space-wise, the country’s plans have some pretty interesting political implications.

This part of the Chinese space program — the non-military part — has operated on two main lines of effort: a robotic precursor line to explore places and establish basic technological competencies, and a human spaceflight line that is always trying to catch up with the robotic line.

The Chinese plan to launch the fourth lunar mission in their Chang’e series of lunar missions in 2018. Chang’e 1 and Chang’e 2 were both orbiters. The third and fourth in the series were intended to be landers. The upcoming fifth mission (expected to land in 2017) will land on the lunar surface and then return soil samples to Earth. And yes, 5 is due to be launched before 4. But there’s a reason why.

Chang’e 3, launched in 2013, was China’s first moon landing and its first robotic lunar rover. Data from the lander led to the discovery of Ilmenite, a commercially important titanium ore, on the Moon. In other words, the mission was a big success.

So big, in fact, that they didn’t know what to do with Chang’e 4, since the Chinese hit enough of their mission objectives that they felt they could proceed directly to missions in which would return lunar samples to Earth. Announcements this year have revealed that the Chinese are going to attempt a first-ever landing of a robotic probe on the far side of the Moon in 2018 — that’s Chang’e 4’s modified objective.

China has also announced its intention to land its first entirely Chinese-supported mission to Mars in 2020. The goals for this mission are pretty ambitious, as this will be China’s first Mars orbiter, lander, and rover all in one. There have been informal statements floating around for a few years regarding the possibility of a Mars sample return mission in the 2030 timeframe, though these press statements don’t appear to be official Chinese policy.

Mars has a real habit of killing off spacecraft — it’s referred to occasionally as the “spacecraft graveyard” due to the number of missions to Mars that have failed. Managing an orbiter, lander, and rover in one fell swoop is a pretty ambitious goal, so it’s no surprise that the Chinese aren’t making big promises about returning Mars samples quite yet.

Related: How Life on Earth Could Destroy Life on Mars

Meanwhile, on the human spaceflight side, the Chinese have announced plans for their own multi-module space station. They’ve already launched a couple of individual Tiangong modules over the last several years, where Chinese spacecraft have docked and hung out for a few days. But the International Space Station (ISS), for instance, is a much bigger affair, built of many large modules connected after being launched independently. This is now what the Chinese wish to do.

Current plans are to start launching in 2018 with an eye to complete the station by 2022. Information is still a bit thin on the particulars of the station, but it’ll likely be something along the lines of the former Russian Mir station, significantly smaller than the ISS. The timing here is interesting, because the countries behind the ISS have set a tentative date of 2024 for retirement of the station; it’ll be interesting to see who wants to get some space on the Chinese station when it’s up and running.

Even bigger news on the human spaceflight side is the announcement of a tentative 2036 date for a Chinese astronaut to land on the moon. This is broadly in keeping with years of speculation in the space community, but the significance is that the government is publicly laying claim to the number.

It may seem a wee bit strange that the Chinese are making all of these announcements at almost the same time, but not all together at once. In the US, these kind of ambitious goals and milestones would usually be rolled out in a big speech by the NASA administrator or even the US president. In China’s case, they’ve come out in a number of venues. The proximate occasion for these discussions has been China’s first Aerospace Day, marked on April 24th in honor of China’s first satellite launch in 1970.

China’s space program (along with its Japanese and Indian counterparts) tends to be a lot more connected to the national levers of power than programs in America and elsewhere in the West. There are a bunch of reasons for China’s setup, but the end result is often better coordination with industrial policy, foreign policy, and the broad exercise of national power. Western governments (particularly in the last four or five decades) have tended to treat space programs as both science agencies and space agencies dedicated to solving problems on Earth.

Thus, it’s safe to assume that the announcement of the first Aerospace Day and the official declaration of all these very high-level space goals is almost certainly a political decision. Although this is the third of XI Jinpeng’s presumed 10-year term, 2016 marks the start of the 13th Five Year Plan, the first such plan unveiled while he has been in office.

Related: A Mars Mission That Saves the Human Race? Eh, Not Worth It

China’s Five Year plans are basically a series of planning documents (and immense planning processes) that more or less direct the strategy of the whole of government. The 13th Five Year Plan kicked off in 2016 and runs to 2020.

It’s safe to guess that the announcement of the first Aerospace Day and public discussion of all these space programs is linked to that 13th Five Year Plan. The latest plan seems to revolve around recognizing that China can’t compete indefinitely on the strength of low labor costs alone, and so must move its economy further up the value chain, much like Japan did 50 years ago. Thus, the Chinese are big on innovation, encouraging the growth of high-tech industries and boosting the reputation of Chinese products abroad. In short, they want to get their scientific knowledge production apparatus in bed with their industrial and economic apparatus in the hopes that they’ll make sweet, sweet innovation together.

In Chinese thinking, the importance of the US Moon landing and Apollo program wasn’t just landing people on the Moon, it was also the huge boost it gave to science and technology growth in the US. A widely held view in China is that the Apollo program fueled US advances in the internet decades later. Partly thanks to direct technological development, and partly thanks to the way the program inspired a generation of kids to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math.

So senior Chinese leadership would appear to believe that a healthy space program can spur all kinds of innovation, technology development, and educational dividends for China in future decades.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

Papi Jiang

China’s First Lady Of Vlogging Nabs $3.5 Million For Online Ad Spot

Papi Jiang may not be a household name to Western audiences, but in China, the vlogger is an Internet sensation – one who just sold an ad slot on her online videos for 22 million yuan, or $3.4 million at current exchange.

The 29-year-old behind Papi Jiang is actually a graduate student at Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama named Jiang Yilei in her offline life, who uploads videos each Monday on social networking channels including Sina Weibo and WeChat, as well as Chinese streaming site Youku and YouTube, poking fun at modern life in China.

An advertising slot for one of her videos was sold last week on Ali Auction, affiliate of Alibaba Group, to Lily & Beauty, an e-commerce firm in Shanghai specializing in sales of beauty products.

This follows an investment from four domestic venture funds – ZhenFund, Luogic Show, Lighthouse Capital and Xingtu Capital – of 12 million yuan (or $1.84 million) in the Papi Jiang juggernaut announced in March.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

China’s robot revolution

China’s robot revolution

Ben Bland

The Ying Ao sink foundry in southern China’s Guangdong province does not look like a factory of the future. The sign over the entrance is faded; inside, the floor is greasy with patches of mud, and a thick metal dust — the by-product of the stainless-steel polishing process — clogs the air. As workers haul trolleys across the factory floor, the cavernous, shed-like building reverberates with a loud clanging.

Guangdong is the growth engine of China’s manufacturing industry, generating $615bn in exports last year — more than a quarter of the country’s total. In this part of the province, the standard wage for workers is about Rmb4,000 ($600) per month. Ying Ao, which manufactures sinks destined for the kitchens of Europe and the US, has to pay double that, according to deputy manager Chen Conghan, because conditions in the factory are so unpleasant. So, four years ago, the company started buying machines to replace the ever more costly humans.

Nine robots now do the job of 140 full-time workers. Robotic arms pick up sinks from a pile, buff them until they gleam and then deposit them on a self-driving trolley that takes them to a computer-linked camera for a final quality check.

The company, which exports 1,500 sinks a day, spent more than $3m on the robots. “These machines are cheaper, more precise and more reliable than people,” says Chen. “I’ve never had a whole batch ruined by robots. I look forward to replacing more humans in future,” he adds, with a wry smile.

Across the manufacturing belt that hugs China’s southern coastline, thousands of factories like Chen’s are turning to automation in a government-backed, robot-driven industrial revolution the likes of which the world has never seen. Since 2013, China has bought more industrial robots each year than any other country, including high-tech manufacturing giants such as Germany, Japan and South Korea. By the end of this year, China will overtake Japan to be the world’s biggest operator of industrial robots, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), an industry lobby group. The pace of disruption in China is “unique in the history of robots,” says Gudrun Litzenberger, general secretary of the IFR, which is based in Germany, home to some of the world’s leading industrial-robot makers.

China’s technological transformation still has far to go — the country has just 36 robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers, compared with 292 in Germany, 314 in Japan and 478 in South Korea. But it is already changing the face of the global manufacturing industry. In the process, it is raising broader questions: can emerging economies still hope to follow the traditional route to prosperity that the developed world has relied upon since Britain’s industrial revolution in the 18th century? Or will robots assume many of the jobs that once pulled hundreds of millions out of poverty?

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page

China is fastest-growing arms exporter

China is fastest-growing arms exporter

China is the world’s fastest-growing arms exporter—thanks to the nations surrounding India

China is getting more adept at making and selling weaponry. The nation led growth in major arms exports in the 2011-2015 period, with weapons sales rising 88% from the previous five-year span, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its share of global arms exports now puts China ahead of France, Germany, and the UK.

Most of China’s exports were to the nations surrounding India. Its biggest client was Pakistan, which received 35% of China’s arms exports, followed by Bangladesh at 20%. Myanmar came in third at 16%.

Pakistan has been rapidly building up its military arsenal, including a host of tiny nuclear weapons, thanks in part to support and exports from China. China has been Bangladesh’s major military supplier for many years, thanks to the cheaper price of China’s weapons and the loans Beijing is willing to make to the Bangladesh government for the purchases. Myanmar’s military government relied heavily on China during years of Western sanctions, but the relationship is being reevaluated under Aung San Suu Kyi’s leadership.

Some analysts believe China’s ties in the region will isolate India both militarily and economically. China and Pakistan have long been allied in what observers believe is a partnership to destabilize India.

Japan could eventually steal China’s third-place standing behind the US and Russia. In April 2014 prime minister Shinzo Abe overturned a ban on arms exports established after World War Two. That’s already led to some contracts, but Japan’s real emergence as an arms exporter should happen in the years ahead.

Ironically Beijing’s current militarization of the South China Sea helps Japan with its sales pitch. Late last year Tokyo announced it would sell defense equipment and technology to the Philippines, which is challenging Beijing’s territorial claims through an international tribunal.

More…

About the Author

Mark Schlarbaum

Facebook Twitter Google+

MARK SCHLARBAUM - Experienced in China - US business partnerships. Never giving up for those that never stop fighting! Help me join the fight against blood cancer and reach my fundraising goal! Visit My Fund Raising Page