China’s military aid: A growing trend under Xi Jinping’s first decade in power

How have Chinese arms transfers evolved during the first ten years of Xi Jinping’s rule? While Chinese arms export policy has been extensively covered in the literature, military aid (defined here as military equipment donations) has been less explored. Focusing on three regions, Asia, Russia-Eurasia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, this article identifies three drivers of Chinese military aid flows: Targeting recipient countries with limited defence budgets; providing a source of alternative military aid compared to the United States and Russia; and fulfilling strategic and political objectives. In all regions under consideration, the Chinese government under Xi Jinping has increasingly used military equipment donations as a tool of foreign and security policy. Notably Chinese military aid to the Indo-Pacific region appears to fill a gap, as it focuses on recipients who receive no or little U.S. donations of military equipment.