China has become the fifth largest arms exporter in the world driven by large-scale arms acquisitions by Pakistan, an international military think-tank said in its report.
"This is the first time China has been in the top five arms exporters since the end of the cold war," Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher of SIPRI said after releasing the data at the Observer's Research Foundation (ORF) here.
The researcher from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said, "A number of recent deals indicate that China is establishing itself as a significant arms supplier to a growing number of important recipient states."
He said the volume of Chinese exports of major conventional weapons rose by 162 per cent between 2003-2007 and 2008-2012, raising its share of the volume of international arms exports from two to five per cent.
The largest supplier of major conventional weapons from 2008-12 continues to be the United States with a share of 30 per cent of the global arms export.
Russia, on the second spot, followed it closely with 26 per cent of global share, while Germany is placed at the third place with 7 per cent global share and France the fourth with six per cent share.
During 2008-12, Asia and Oceania (region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean) accounted for almost half (47 per cent) of the global arms imports of major conventional weapons, with India leading with 12 per cent, Wezeman said.
The Chinese share in this period in global imports was six per cent, while Pakistan and South Korea accounted for five per cent and Singapore four per cent.
