The sustained decline in Chinese arms exports highlights significant gaps in quality, performance, and after-sales service compared to Western competitors. Chinese arms often suffer from frequent malfunctions and poor service, tarnishing their reputation.
China has a major problem to fix as it aims to become a major defence exporter. Many nations who have purchased weapons from the dragon are now facing what can clearly only be seen as a case of buyer’s remorse. The fifth-largest global defence exporter is experiencing a fall in its share of defence sales. The primary reason for this is attributed to poor quality of equipment and ever-dismal after-sales support leaving current customers fuming and driving potential customers away.
The most prominent example of nations suffering from buyer’s remorse is that of Jordan, which put its six CH-4B armed drones up for sale within a year of acquiring the platform from China. In neighbouring Iraq, eight of the twenty CH-4B drones have crashed, while three Algerian drones of the same type crashed in as many months. Sales of weaponised drones was the only area where China was outcompeting others, but this fad has also ended. With many customers now looking at Türkiye for these drones.
Many nations that procured weapons from China have now stopped buying big-ticket items from that country, the list includes Algeria, Egypt, Iran and Sri Lanka. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has also reported on declining trends when it comes to Chinese defence exports.
Over 80% of Chinese weapons sales are to countries based in Asia, 17% of the sales are to countries in Africa, with residual sales to Central and America. Over 60% goes to just three countries i.e., Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Most customers of Chinese weapons are allured by the price tag. Weapons offered by China are not only much cheaper than the ones offered by Western nations but also cost less than the weapons offered by Russia.
One of the biggest problems faced by users of Chinese weapons systems is after-sales support. Bangladesh has reported problems with it K-8 jet trainers, F-7 fighter jets, FM-90 air defence missile systems. Their army is experiencing problems with the Chinese MBT 2000 tanks. The South Asian nation also purchased 45 Multi Launch Rocket Systems from China, which will now be replaced with 36 similar systems from Türkiye. The Bangladeshi Navy is also ruing buying two China-made Frigates. Neighbouring Myanmar too regrets purchasing JF-17 fighters, these fighters are designed in China and Pakistan assembles them after sourcing critical parts from China.
Pakistan, the biggest importer of weapons from China is suffering, too from similar issues. The Pakistani Air Force (PAF) is the biggest user of Chinese-origin fighter planes outside China. It is the only foreign user of the J-10, a fighter which was pitched to Pakistan repeatedly. The air force of the Islamic Republic also operates over 150 JF-17s and plans to operate nearly 200 units. The aircraft has been through multiple groundings of the fleet and many crashes, the most recent one was earlier this month. The PAF only purchased the J-10 after it was unable to source F-16s either directly or in the second-hand market.
The Pakistanis also rejected China’s CAIC Z-10 attack helicopters in favour of the Turkish T129 ATAK helicopters. Pakistan has also got their Chinese AWACS platforms reconfigured to transport platforms after repeated disappointments.
The Pakistani Army has experienced multiple problems with Chinese equipment, most recently the VT-4 tanks. Pakistan is also dissatisfied with China-made air defence systems and required extensive help from China to fix the system.
Pakistani Navy also experienced issues with the Chinese FM-90 air defence system; also, a headache for Bangladesh. Pakistan’s Zulfiqar class frigates were non-operational on delivery as the gun system, the air defence system and many other critical systems onboard were just not functional.
The Thai Navy acquired Chinese Type071E ships without weapons, sensors and other critical systems for this reason. Opting to take the more expensive route by letting western firms fit out the ship. Other nations too are learning the lesson, which is, that cheap price tag results in sub-optimal performance.
Sources: Bharat Shakti; YouTube