Pakistan’s reliance on China, its “ironclad friend”, for arms has deepened over the past 15 years, even as Turkey has emerged as a major weapons supplier to the South Asian country, a Moneycontrol analysis of the SIPRI data shows.
During 2020-24, China was the largest seller of weapons to Pakistan, accounting for 81 percent of its imports, followed by the Netherlands at 5.5 percent and Turkey at 3.8 percent. China accounted for 51 percent of Islamabad’s total imports in 2009-14 and 73 percent in 2015-19.
As Chinese imports have grown, Pakistan’s reliance on the US has declined, reflecting its growing closeness to Beijing.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) is an independent body that studies conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. It provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade.
The US was among the top arms exporters to Pakistan in 2009-14, accounting for 30 percent of its imports. It doesn't even figure among the top 3 sellers to the country now.
Italy has also lost its position, as Turkey and the Netherlands gain prominence.
Turkey and Azerbaijan were among the two nations which came out in support of Pakistan after India hit nine terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor in early on May 7.
It's not just Pakistan which depends on Turkey. The dependence runs the other way round as well. Pakistan accounted for over 10 percent of Turkey’s exports in 2014-24.
In the case of China, Pakistan was the largest importer, accounting for 41 percent of its exports in 2009-14, which rose to 63 percent in 2020-24.
Pakistan was the fifth largest buyer of arms in 2020-24, its share jumping to 4.6 percent from 2.8 percent in 2015-19.
An earlier analysis by Moneycontrol found that Pakistan outspent all other countries on defence as a proportion of the GDP at 2.8 percent compared with 1.8 percent for low-middle-income countries and 2 percent for middle-income nations.
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