00:01New weapons unveiled, like this intercontinental ballistic missile, over 100 aircraft, and more than 10,000 troops.
00:10The huge parade in the heart of Beijing marked President Xi Jinping's ambition to transform China from one of the world's biggest arms buyers into a maker of all the weapons it needs for itself,
00:22and an increasingly formidable exporter on target to hit $3.2 billion across dozens of countries.
00:29Analysts believe China's motivation for this huge expansion goes beyond the financial. Here's why.
00:38For much of its history, the People's Liberation Army, or PLA, relied on foreign military equipment, particularly from Russia, like this jet fighter.
00:47But in recent decades, Beijing has invested heavily in state-owned and private sector defence companies.
00:53Self-reliance is a fundamental part of what China does in terms of military technological development.
00:59It needs to be able to supply equipment and capability very quickly to the Chinese military.
01:04And if it relies on a foreign country to do that, then the ability of the PLA to respond to any contingency effectively and efficiently and quickly is compromised.
01:14The parade, to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War II following the surrender of Japan, fits Xi Jinping's modernisation push.
01:24For China, this is a question of prestige.
01:27Over the last six years, China has made a lot of inroads in a lot of areas of military technology.
01:32And so this parade is an opportunity for China to demonstrate the growing power of its defence industry.
01:38China's defence imports have been steadily dropping, reaching its lowest point in the period of 2020 and 2024.
01:45At the same time, Beijing has emerged among the world's top five arms sellers.
01:51But China's share of the global arms market has so far failed to expand much further.
01:56We said at the time, OK, China's moved very quickly into a strong position.
02:02We're likely to see China move into the top two or three exporters.
02:06But we haven't seen that because the scope of China's defence export customers is quite limited.
02:12Chinese arms attract buyers in the global south for several reasons.
02:17The relatively low price.
02:19The wide range of products, from drones to missile systems and military helicopters.
02:24Fewer restrictions on how to use them compared to Western arms.
02:28And the many different ways of paying for the equipment.
02:31China is able to sell its equipment to countries that have not much money.
02:35That don't have many options to buy from.
02:38Perhaps because the US is not willing to sell to them.
02:41China is very adept at being able to sell military equipment for minerals.
02:47Or in exchange for energy.
02:49Or in exchange for gas.
02:51Or in exchange for many other things.
02:53China is not able to sell its military equipment to mature markets.
02:56Who have a strong defence industrial base.
02:59And are active in procuring equipment from the US and Europe.
03:03Chinese arms are also still widely perceived to be inferior to Western arms.
03:08Defence experts say Chinese weapons are largely untested in combat.
03:12And suffer from quality and performance problems.
03:15Some analysts add the quality of the arms that China is exporting is not the same it provides to its own troops.
03:22But in May 2025, during a short confrontation between Islamabad and New Delhi,
03:27Pakistan's Chinese-made aircraft reportedly managed to down India's French-made military aircraft.
03:34We still don't know really what happened.
03:36And so I take that with a pinch of salt.
03:39But what I would say is that as Chinese defence equipment has continued to increase in quality over the last 20 years,
03:48the quality that it exports has also increased.
03:51Even though it's not as strong as some of the Western counterparts for sure.
03:55Military parades are an opportunity for countries to show off their wares to potential buyers across the world.
04:02But China is not motivated by money alone.
04:05The driver for China in exports is not the funds.
04:08It's the influence that it can gauge in the emerging markets through the exports.
04:14When China exports helicopters to Cambodia through the provision of soft loans,
04:21China does not do that because it needs the money.
04:24China does that because it can gain a strategic and diplomatic influence in the country,
04:30through which it can exercise its power.
04:34China also uses the parade to telegraph its position to the world.
04:38It is a message to the US, to US allies in the region that,
04:42hey, China is an advanced military capability
04:46and China is able to act on its strategic requirements through its military
04:51and it better be taken seriously.
04:52That's the message really.
