GLOBAL spending on weapons now totals more than $1.7tn and Russia has overtaken Britain and France to take third place in the world league table.

While military expenditure fell last year in most western countries, including the US, which is facing serious budget deficits, Russia and China have continued to increase their spending on weapons — by more than nine per cent and six per cent respectively last year, according to figures released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) recently.

The US remains by far the biggest military spender, with a defence budget of $711bn last year, followed by China, which spent an estimated $143bn on its armed forces in 2011. China has increased its military spending by 170 per cent in real terms since 2002.

Russia spent nearly $72bn on arms last year, overtaking Britain ($62.7bn) and France ($62.5bn) according to Sipri. It notes that Russia is planning further increases, with draft budgets showing a 53 per cent rise in real terms up to 2014.

However, Sipri adds that many analysts are doubtful whether the industry will be able to carry out such ambitious plans after decades of stagnation after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

China’s increased military spending has caused concern among its neighbours and the US, the dominant Pacific power. The recent announcement of a US “pivot” towards Asia is in part the response to such concerns, Sipri says.

It adds: “China’s extensive and growing trade relations with the countries in its neighbourhood have been marred by disputes — eg the border dispute with India, a dispute over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) islands with Japan, and contested maritime borders with several nations in the South China Sea — all of which have led to increased tensions.”

However, the report says talk of an arms race in the region may be premature, as both data and analysis reveal a mixed pattern of trends in military expenditure and arms acquisition, with China far from being the only driving factor.

Two countries where concerns over China do appear to have contributed to increased spending are India and Vietnam.

India has increased military spending by 66 per cent since 2002. While both internal conflicts and the long-running dispute with Pakistan remain key issues, India views China as a rival for regional power.

Vietnam, meanwhile, has increased military spending by 82 per cent since 2003, and has invested heavily in its navy in recent years, partly due to tensions with China in the South China Sea.

In June 2011, Vietnam announced that its military would conduct new exercises in the area. The two countries fought a brief border war in 1979. However, military spending in both India and Vietnam fell in real terms in 2011.

Countries in the Middle East continued to boost their military budgets, and Algeria — concerned about the Arab spring and revolutions in Tunisia and Libya — increased its military spending last year by 40 per cent. — The Guardian, London