China is using the International Army Games as “a marketing and advertising show” to sell its weapons and military goods, as the country seeks to solidify its place as one of the world’s largest arms exporters. Experts say the event’s real benefit to China isn’t derived from arms sales, but in diplomatic gains. “China is using arms exports as an instrument of its foreign policy to create strategic dependencies,” Michael Raska, a military studies professor at RSIS in NTU Singapore said in a podcast last year.