This book assesses current Chinese arms imports in the light of China's historical efforts to modernize its weapon-production capacity through foreign acquisitions. It considers the implications of these imports for future security developments in the East Asian region.

China's role in missile and nuclear weapons proliferation has become one of 3 issues -- along with human rights and trade -- upon which the U.S. has focused its reassessment of U.S. policy toward China, and whether to attach conditions to the renewal of China's MFN trade benefits. Addresses the factors motivating Chinese conventional arms sales and speculates on means to influence them. Describes the history of PRC weapons exports, then examines various supply- and demand-side reasons for these transfers. Discusses sources of arms transfer restraints.

First Published in 1985, China and the Arms Trade offers a detailed analysis of Chinese arms aid policy to examine Beijing’s changing nature of foreign and domestic policy. Military aid, like war, is a continuation of foreign policy by other means. The previous perception of China offering special and selfless military assistance seems no longer accurate. The nature of these Chinese aid now appears more complex and contradictory. China, now like other great powers, take an active role in the lucrative international arms bazaar. As one Chinese official said about his country’s more hard-headed arms sales policy, ‘we cannot sell at friendship prices all the time’. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of Chinese foreign policy, strategic studies, Chinese politics, international relations and defence studies.

Developed by the Rand Corporation, the site contains chapters covering an Introduction; Background; Explaining China's Arms Transfers; Possible Constraints on China's Arms; Implications for the United States; An Overview of China's Arms Sales; and a Bibliography.

Global arms proliferation continues to be a key concern for the United States, particularly the export role of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Although China experienced a significant decline in its arms exports in the 1990s (down from the boom times of the 1980s), the PRC provides a significant array of lethal weapons and sensitive defense technologies to states around the world. These exports provide an invaluable means by which to assess the progress and performance of China's military-industrial complex. Moreover, these products may present the very systems and technological know-how that the United States and allied forces will encounter in a future conflict.

This new book is the first full account, inside or outside government, of China’s efforts to acquire foreign technology. Based on primary sources and meticulously researched, the book lays bare China’s efforts to prosper technologically through others' achievements. For decades, China has operated an elaborate system to spot foreign technologies, acquire them by all conceivable means, and convert them into weapons and competitive goods—without compensating the owners. The director of the US National Security Agency recently called it "the greatest transfer of wealth in history." Written by two of America's leading government analysts and an expert on Chinese cyber networks, this book describes these transfer processes comprehensively and in detail, providing the breadth and depth missing in other works. Drawing upon previously unexploited Chinese language sources, the authors begin by placing the new research within historical context, before examining the People’s Republic of China’s policy support for economic espionage, clandestine technology transfers, theft through cyberspace and its impact on the future of the US. This book will be of much interest to students of Chinese politics, Asian security studies, US defence, US foreign policy and IR in general.