中國成全球第五大武器出口國

　　China has ousted the UK as the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter, mainly because of sales to Pakistan, according to a new report on global weapons sales.

　　The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday said Chinese arms exports rose 162 per cent between 2008 to 2012, propelling China into the top five arms exporting countries for the first time since the cold war. This marks the first time that the UK has not been one of the top five conventional arms exporters since at least 1950, the earliest year covered by Sipri data.

　　Pakistan accounted for 55 per cent of Chinese arms exports between 2008 and 2012, according to Sipri. During that time, China’s share of global arms exports rose to 5 per cent from 2 per cent in the 2003-2007 period, boosting the country from eighth to fifth place in the global ranking.

　　“Military exports are one way for China to increase its international status,” said Li Hong, secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. “China needs to increase its influence in regional affairs and from that perspective it needs to increase weapons exports further.”

　　Chinese defence spending is now second only to US military outlays. At current growth rates, Chinese spending could catch up with the US which accounts for more than 45 per cent of global military spending by as early as 2025.

　　For now, however, Chinese exports lag behind other countries with much smaller populations and economies. The US share of global conventional arms exports is 30 per cent. Russia, meanwhile, accounts for 26 per cent, German exports constitute 7 per cent, and France accounts for 6 per cent.

　　The rapid expansion in Beijing’s military budget in recent years and a focus on technological advances have raised the sophistication and competitiveness of Chinese weapons. This allowed China to cut the volume of its weapons imports in half between 2008 and 2012, compared with the 2003-2007 period, when it was the world’s largest importer of conventional weapons.

　　In the 2008-2012 period, China ranked second behind India, with 69 per cent of all Chinese weapons imports originating in Russia. China’s rising influence and military spending have led to growing apprehension in Asia and helped spur large increases in military budgets throughout the region.

　　According to Sipri, India accounted for 12 per cent of all conventional arms imports between 2008 and 2012, which was more than double Chinese purchases of arms from overseas.

　　學(xué)習(xí)指南：

　　1.Word of the day

　　oust: If someone is ousted from a position of power, job, or place, they are forced to leave it. 罷黜;把……撤職;驅(qū)逐

　　ex:The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.

　　例句：這些領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人被民族主義者趕下了臺(tái)。

　　2.Phrase of the day

　　conventional arms: conventional weapons do not involve nuclear explosives. 常規(guī)武器

　　ex:We must reduce the danger of war by controlling nuclear, chemical and conventional arms.

　　例句：我們必須通過控制核武器，化學(xué)武器和常規(guī)武器的數(shù)量來減少戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的危險(xiǎn)。

　　小編注：arm指“武器”時(shí)，必須使用復(fù)數(shù)形式“arms”，嚴(yán)格意義上來說，arms與weapons相比更側(cè)重于單個(gè)士兵可以操作的武器，同時(shí)也可以指整個(gè)國家的軍備。但現(xiàn)在兩者基本可以混用，并不很強(qiáng)調(diào)其區(qū)別。常規(guī)武器指的是無核的武器。