First Published in 1985, China and the Arms Trade offers a detailed analysis of Chinese arms aid policy to examine Beijing’s changing nature of foreign and domestic policy. Military aid, like war, is a continuation of foreign policy by other means. The previous perception of China offering special and selfless military assistance seems no longer accurate. The nature of these Chinese aid now appears more complex and contradictory. China, now like other great powers, take an active role in the lucrative international arms bazaar. As one Chinese official said about his country’s more hard-headed arms sales policy, ‘we cannot sell at friendship prices all the time’.

This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of Chinese foreign policy, strategic studies, Chinese politics, international relations and defence studies.