European arms imports have grown the fastest in the world over the past five years, and should continue to accelerate following recent threats from Russia and European countries’ efforts to rearmament, the researchers said.
According to research published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global arms exports fell by 4.6% from 2017 to 2021 compared with the previous five years, while European arms increased by 19%.
“Europe is the new hot spot,” Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher who has co-authored the annual report for the past 30 years, told AFP.
“We’re going to increase military spending, not just a little bit, but a lot,” Weissman said. “We need new weapons, and a lot of them will come from imports.” He added that most of the weapons are likely to come from elsewhere in Europe country and the United States.
Germany has announced plans to increase military spending, as have Denmark and Sweden.
European countries, frightened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are expected to strengthen their armaments with American F-35 fighter jets, missiles, ammunition and other heavy weapons.
“Most of these things take time,” Weissman said. “You have to go through the process, from decision, order to production. Generally speaking, it takes at least a year or two.”
The upward trend actually started following Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, he said.
Weissman pointed out that Europe’s share of global arms sales has increased from 10% to 13% in the past five years, and that the ratio will increase “substantially” in the future.
It is difficult to estimate the actual amount of global arms sales due to unclear contract conditions in many countries, and many are donated rather than purchased, but experts estimate that the amount is close to $100 billion a year.
According to the report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Asia and Oceania are still the main arms importing regions in the past five years, with arms transfers accounting for 43%. The world’s top six arms importers include India, Australia, China, South Korea, Pakistan and Japan. these two continents.
While arms imports into the world’s most populous region have fallen by regarding 5% over the past five years, East Asia and Oceania have seen strong growth, with 20% and 59% growth, respectively.
In the second largest market, the Middle East, it increased by 3%, mainly due to increased investment in Qatar, which is tense with neighboring countries. Middle East arms imports account for 32 percent of the world’s total.
Arms imports to the Americas and Africa fell sharply, by 36% and 34% respectively, each accounting for regarding 6% of global arms imports.
In terms of arms exporting countries, the United States ranks first with 39%. Russia remains in second place, but its exports have fallen to 19% over the past five years, mainly due to lower imports from mainland China.
The third largest arms exporter is France, with 11%.
Editor: Qin Yingwen
