It has been revealed that China has gone ahead of Germany and France to become the third-largest arms exporter in the world following US and Russia.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the US contributed to 31% of all exports of conventional weapons last year, whereas Russia accounted for 27% of the world's total. China followed with only about 5% of the world's total.

In 2014, Beijing edged out Germany and France to become the world's third-largest exporter of arms. SIPRI notified that 41% of China's exports went to Pakistan and Russia's exports went to India, which is the world's leading arms importer. The US had the majority clients with South Korea. South Korea accounted for only 9% of all US weapon exports.

SIPRI said that China had long been reliant on arms imports mostly from Russia and Ukraine, but the trend has been reversed because of its fast-growing economy and the regular copying of foreign technology. Presently, China supplies weapons to 35 countries, mainly to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

China's advantages on the market involve easy financing conditions and leniency towards authoritarian governments. China's exports increased by 143% between 2010 and 2014, making China the world's second largest economy and the third largest arms exporter behind Russia and top dog the US.

"Cameroon and Nigeria received arms from several states in order to fulfill their urgent demand for weapons to fight against the militant Islamist group Boko Haram", said SIPRI.