America's internationalism will increasingly rely on closer cooperation with the United Nations and the West to foster international stability and stronger Western solidarity (2). Chinese arms sales to the Middle East became controversial, particularly in the United States, because of China's willingness to export tactical and strategic missiles, regardless of the consequences to regional stability. In response, the United States began to pressure and to restrain its ballistic-missile exports. Chinese leaders maintained that their country had adopted a prudent and responsible policy on arms sales, selling only a limited quantity of weapons. Nevertheless, China's attempts to use the international security framework to its own advantage were contradictory. China's withdrawal from the Perm Five arms-transfer talks, sale of M-11 missile components to Pakistan, undercut the credibility of its commitment to arms control and thus its ability to influence the direction of such efforts. (Sismanidis, Roxane D.V., China and the Post-Soviet security structure.. Vol. 21, Asian Affairs: An American Review, 04-01-1994, pp 39).

Washington's sale of F-16 fighters to Taipei weakened Beijing's enthusiasm for arms control because the deal highlighted Chinese concerns that the arms-control regime was an instrument that the West hypocritically wielded against such developing countries as China while declining to abide by the rules established by the regime. (3)

After the Persian Gulf War was over, there was a tremendous amount of interest in American weapons because of their performance during the conflict, and those nations that had cash, in the Middle East. Some of our allies in Asia, decided that they wanted to upgrade their own weapons programs and it was relatively easy for us to carry forward the momentum and the psychology of 'America makes the best' and take advantage of it. And that's what American corporations did. (Author not available, arms trade. The Hutchinson Dictionary of World History, 01-01-1998).

The...

The United States and Europe, (the allies) are pretty rich countries and they're also countries that spend some time preaching to others about the need to reduce the proliferation of arms. If you take a look at the U.S. figures, what is interesting about them is that every one of the major buyers in 1992 was countries with cash - Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
In 1993 we saw U.S. Arms leading the globe in exports of combat aircraft and 1995 sold more fighter planes to foreign governments than we did to our own. In 1996 exports of this aircraft outpaced falling domestic sales by more than five to one (Craddock, Ashley, U.S. Arms: periodic report. (growth of U.S. arms exports - in a facetious 'corporate annual report' format). Vol. 19, Mother Jones, 09-01-1994

Indeed, we are confident that by selling arms across the globe, we are not creating future threats but future customers. These critics talk about moral imperatives: USArms believes our only moral imperative is to protect the jobs and security of the American people and to sustain the industrial base that has made us the most powerful nation in the world.

Bibliography

Keller, William W. & Nolan, Janne E., the Arms Trade: Business as Usual?. Vol. 109, Foreign Policy, 12-01-1997

Rimanelli, Marco, East-West arms control and the fall of the U.S.S.R., 1967-1994: radical change or expedient accommodation?. Vol. 29, East European Quarterly, 06-22-1995pp 237(37).

Sismanidis, Roxane D.V., China and the Post-Soviet security structure.. Vol. 21, Asian Affairs: An American Review, 04-01-1994 pp 39.

Author not available, arms trade., the Hutchinson Dictionary of World History, 01-01-1998

Craddock, Ashley, U.S. Arms: periodic report. (growth of U.S. arms exports - in a facetious 'corporate annual report' format). Vol. 19, Mother Jones, 09-01-1994, pp. 41(8). http://www.motherjones.com/arms