Published: 09:31 PM, 01 December 2025
Chinese giant military firms' revenues declined last year
Eight top generals were expelled from the ruling Chinese Communist Party on graft charges in October, including the country's number two general, He Weidong. He had served under Xi on the Central Military Commission, China's supreme military command organization. Getty Images
Revenues at China's giant military firms fell last year as corruption purges slowed arms contracts and procurement, according to a study released on Monday by a leading conflict think tank, reports CNN.
The Chinese declines contrast with strong revenue growth globally for big arms and military-services companies, fueled by wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and global and regional tensions, the research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found. "A host of corruption allegations in Chinese arms procurement led to major arms contracts being postponed or canceled in 2024," said Nan Tian, director of SIPRI's Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program.
"This deepens uncertainty around the status of China's military modernization efforts and when new capabilities will materialize."
The People's Liberation Army was one of the main targets of a broader corruption crackdown ordered by President Xi Jinping in 2012, reaching the upper levels of the military in 2023 when its Rocket Force was targeted.
Eight top generals were expelled from the ruling Communist Party on graft charges in October, including the country's number two general, He Weidong. He had served under Xi on the Central Military Commission, China's supreme military command organization.
Asian and Western diplomats say they are still trying to gauge the impact of the crackdown on China's ongoing military rise and how far down it reaches through the command chain.
Revenues of China's top military firms fell 10% last year, while those in Japan surged 40%, Germany 36% and US revenues rose 3.8%, SIPRI data shows.
Revenues of the world's 100 largest arms firms rose 5.9% to a record $679 billion, the report said, while China's fall was enough to make Asia-Oceania the only region to post a revenue decline among its top arms firms.
China's weapons revenue fell despite three decades of rising defense budgets in Beijing's growing strategic rivalry with the United States, Asia's traditional military power, and tensions over Taiwan and the hotly disputed South China Sea.
