Chinese-Dragon
RETIRED TTA
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- Joined
- Jul 9, 2010
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- 33,932
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First thing to note "India replaced China as the world´s biggest arms buyer in 2010.". So china was importing more than india, just four years back. If China has crossed that phase, India has just entered that phase.
Secondly, the US won't sell to China. Hence, the only available seller is Russia, which wont sell advanced weapons to china fearing that China will once again break contracts and infringe on ToT agreements like they copied the SU27. So, china does not have the same number of sellers as India. You are limited in what you can buy. I believe that is the real reason India imports more.
Thirdly, the assumption that because India has surpassed China does not mean that China can produce everything in house. China still is reliant for technology in key areas and significantly behind the West. India pays $$ and china steals via espionage/honey traps. That's how these countries try and compensate. China proudly paints copied weapons or should I refer to it as 'inspired by'. Surely China has made some advances, no doubt about that. But also, a lot of it has been due to stealing, on a military and corporate level. The government of china encourages this. Yet, some posters were thumping their chests about being high IQ, which would be true if it stood for IDIOT QUOTIENT. A copy and produce culture cannot be associated with intelligence.
There is another big difference, China's GDP is now $9.3 trillion, and India's GDP is still at $1.7 trillion.
We went into a double-digit growth phase for over three decades, and the result is a bigger GDP, which leads to a larger defence budget.
China can afford to invest a lot more in indigenous industries compared to India, which is why we have even become the 4th largest defence EXPORTER in the world.
It's true, India can buy military tech from a greater variety of sources. But the question is... does that hurt or help India's indigenous defence industries? If you can buy it, where the incentive to make it yourself?