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China exported weapons worth more than $2bn to different countries
The New York Times recently published an article, which revealed that China has established itself as a credible competitor in the global weapons market and exported weapons worth more than $2bn to different countries.
The US-based daily quoting IHS Jane’s said Pakistan was the biggest importer with over $600m followed by Bangladesh.
According to a report published by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Planning last year, the Bangladesh Navy was trying to buy two “off-the-shelf” submarines along with two frigates from China. In addition to that, the Bangladesh Air Force purchased one squadron (Sixteen) of F-7 BGI fighter planes from Beijing.
Deep military cooperation between Bangladesh and China has a long history, irrespective of regime change, former Bangladesh ambassador to China Munshi Faiz Ahmad told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The value of import keeps increasing due to purchases of upgraded technology and new equipment in the natural process of development,” said the longest-serving Bangladesh ambassador to China, who served from 2007 to 2012.
Citing another dimension, lack of comparable sources is another reason behind buying more from China, said Munshi, currently the chairman of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.
A foreign ministry official said in most of the cases Bangladesh bought weapons on state credit, which was interest free.
“It is a very lucrative offer as it is extremely rare that a government provides interest-free loans for buying weapons,” he added.
Bangladesh and Russia recently signed a loan agreement to buy weapons from the country at a rate of 4.5%.
“China is also helping Bangladesh rebuild the Ordinance Factory in Gazipur which produces small arms and ammunition,” the official said.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, for the last 20 years Bangladesh had been maintaining 1% to 1.3% of gross domestic product as military expenditure, and a part of it was used for weapons purchase.
Bangladesh, being a $100bn economy, spent about $1.1bn last year.
Two corvettes, one survey ship, eight high-speed boats, a helicopter handling system, an early warning radar system and two marine helicopters had been added to the Bangladesh Navy’s arsenal during the last three years, according to Mid-term Budgetary Framework for 2013-14 to 2017-18.
In addition, the procurement process for purchasing the C-704 missile system, QW-2 SAM, OTOMAT MK-II missiles, two large patrol craft, five patrol craft and one tanker has been completed.
The Navy has attained two dimensional capabilities by adding two marine helicopters to its fleet.
Bangladesh Army has engaged in a government-to-government contract to procure armoured personnel carriers from Russia. It also procured tanks, self-propelled guns, armoured personnel carriers and other equipment under the same contract. The Army also purchased a weapon-locating radar and a Bell Helicopter during the last three years.
- See more at: Bangladesh comes second in Chinese arms purchase last year | Dhaka Tribune
-
The New York Times recently published an article, which revealed that China has established itself as a credible competitor in the global weapons market and exported weapons worth more than $2bn to different countries.
The US-based daily quoting IHS Jane’s said Pakistan was the biggest importer with over $600m followed by Bangladesh.
According to a report published by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Planning last year, the Bangladesh Navy was trying to buy two “off-the-shelf” submarines along with two frigates from China. In addition to that, the Bangladesh Air Force purchased one squadron (Sixteen) of F-7 BGI fighter planes from Beijing.
Deep military cooperation between Bangladesh and China has a long history, irrespective of regime change, former Bangladesh ambassador to China Munshi Faiz Ahmad told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The value of import keeps increasing due to purchases of upgraded technology and new equipment in the natural process of development,” said the longest-serving Bangladesh ambassador to China, who served from 2007 to 2012.
Citing another dimension, lack of comparable sources is another reason behind buying more from China, said Munshi, currently the chairman of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.
A foreign ministry official said in most of the cases Bangladesh bought weapons on state credit, which was interest free.
“It is a very lucrative offer as it is extremely rare that a government provides interest-free loans for buying weapons,” he added.
Bangladesh and Russia recently signed a loan agreement to buy weapons from the country at a rate of 4.5%.
“China is also helping Bangladesh rebuild the Ordinance Factory in Gazipur which produces small arms and ammunition,” the official said.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, for the last 20 years Bangladesh had been maintaining 1% to 1.3% of gross domestic product as military expenditure, and a part of it was used for weapons purchase.
Bangladesh, being a $100bn economy, spent about $1.1bn last year.
Two corvettes, one survey ship, eight high-speed boats, a helicopter handling system, an early warning radar system and two marine helicopters had been added to the Bangladesh Navy’s arsenal during the last three years, according to Mid-term Budgetary Framework for 2013-14 to 2017-18.
In addition, the procurement process for purchasing the C-704 missile system, QW-2 SAM, OTOMAT MK-II missiles, two large patrol craft, five patrol craft and one tanker has been completed.
The Navy has attained two dimensional capabilities by adding two marine helicopters to its fleet.
Bangladesh Army has engaged in a government-to-government contract to procure armoured personnel carriers from Russia. It also procured tanks, self-propelled guns, armoured personnel carriers and other equipment under the same contract. The Army also purchased a weapon-locating radar and a Bell Helicopter during the last three years.
- See more at: Bangladesh comes second in Chinese arms purchase last year | Dhaka Tribune
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