Africa Is A New Frontier For Chinese Ammunition Manufacturers

Written by Staff

Feb 21, 2016

From NikkeiAsianReview. Story by Sam Nussey

Chinese weapons are an increasingly common sight in Africa. From the buyer’s point of view, they come with several advantages: They are relatively cheap and come with few of the strings attached to the purchase of Western gear.

For African governments facing tight defense budgets and chronic security threats, Chinese equipment has great appeal, particularly as it often comes as part of a broader package of trade and investment.

China has exported arms to Africa for decades, but they “were essentially legacy copies of Soviet-era systems,” said Bastian Giegerich, director of defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank. China took Soviet stalwarts and developed their own versions, with the Soviet T-54A tank becoming China’s main battle tank, the Type 59, and the MiG-21 rechristened the J-7, a fighter jet that has been sold across the continent.

Now things are changing. “We’re seeing China develop its more indigenous equipment and we’re now starting to see that being exported towards Africa,” said Joseph Dempsey, a research analyst with IISS, at the release of the think tank’s annual Military Balance report. About two-thirds of African countries use Chinese arms, IISS estimates, and the share is rising. Ten African nations have started buying equipment from China within the last 10 years, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Angola and Nigeria.

China’s growing clout as a defense exporter follows years of double-digit budget increases at home. Between 2014 and 2015, its military spending jumped nearly 20 percent in real terms. It now spends more on defense than the U.K., France and Japan combined.

China is now “actually developing stuff especially for export, no longer for the domestic market,” said Dempsey of IISS, with equipment that has never been seen in China being used in Africa.

The appeal of Chinese equipment is increased by its inclusion in larger trade and investment deals. For analysts, the lack of transparency makes tracking the changes reshaping African armed forces difficult. “A lot of times we see something appearing and that’s the first indication we get of it,” said Dempsey.