By Zhang Gaosheng
As of now, the value of US foreign military sales for the fiscal year 2024 has exceeded USD 80 billion and may reach USD 100 billion by the end of this year, according to a statement released by the US Department of Defense recently. This record-breaking amount far surpasses the USD 66.2 billion from the fiscal year 2023.
Amid the increasing downward pressure on the world economy, and ongoing instability in international security, US arms exports have risen against the trend and remained dominant. This highlights the US' long-standing practice of exploiting security fears, promoting conflict and confrontation, and profiting from war. The massive global flow of weapons is posing significant challenges to regional military balance and global security stability.
As a special commodity, arms exports are far from a simple economic transaction as they carry multiple significances including economic, strategic security, and diplomatic. As the world's largest arms exporter, US arms export policy is calculated at every turn to serve its hegemonic interests.
At the economy level, the US economy has been increasingly intertwined with its military since World War II. Over the decades, its military, defense contractors, and politicians have formed a military-industrial complex that deeply influences US policies and public opinion. Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, major US defense companies including Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman have reaped huge profits under the manipulation of this military-industrial complex.
At the strategic security level, arms exports support the US' global strategy and are a key lever for advancing its geopolitical interests. Since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, the US has provided over USD 55.4 billion in military aid to Ukraine. It has also ramped up arms sales to the Asia-Pacific region in recent years to promote its so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy." The US uses arms exports as a tool to rebalance global geopolitics to ensure its absolute security and hegemony by creating insecurity in other regions.
At the diplomatic level, arms exports are an important means for the US to establish and maintain its alliance system, and a powerful tool to influence the politics, security and foreign policies of import countries. Increasing arms exports to allies and quasi-allies and strengthening military ties with these countries is a key signal for the US to demonstrate its leadership in the alliance and express its support for its allies.
Currently, with the deteriorating international security situation and increasing global security deficits, the US' irresponsible arms exports are intensifying, causing harm worldwide. In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US has added fuel to the fire, exported weapons and profited from the war, which is undoubtedly one of the key factors that intensifies the war and delays the resolution of the problem. The US has also long transferred military supplies to non-state actors, leading to large quantities of ammunition being untraceable and even falling into the hands of terrorist groups and extremist forces. The US has also pushed for the nuclear submarine cooperation between the US, UK, and Australia, setting a dangerous precedent for transferring weapons-grade nuclear material to non-nuclear weapon states, thereby heightening the risk of nuclear proliferation.
Moreover, the irresponsible arms exports of the US have led to severe humanitarian crises. Recent data show that since the latest outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip have killed over 40,000 Palestinians and injured more than 93,000. Despite already delivering more than 50,000 tons of weapons and military equipment to Israel, the US continues to push for more arms sales. The US government approved a new USD 20 billion arms sale to Israel in mid-August. Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US has violated international conventions by supplying Ukraine with certain conventional weapons such as cluster munitions and depleted uranium rounds, which are notorious for causing indiscriminate civilian casualties and long-term harm to the environment.
In today's world, the pursuit of peace and development is a global consensus, but war and death continue to trample on justice and fairness. As a major power, the US should adopt a responsible arms export policy and stop fanning the flames around the world and make sure that it does not become a threat to global peace and development.
(The author is from the Department for World Peace and Security Studies, China Institute of International Studies.)
