Introduction
 Relevance of the study Acting as a supplier of military products, the Russian Federation today is one of the largest exporters on the world arms market. However, a number of significant changes have recently taken place in the arms market, affecting both its structure and defining new trends in the development of the global arms trade. Under these, even while remaining one of the leaders in arms exports in absolute terms, Russia began to lose its position in relative terms. This is especially noticeable against the background of a new major arms exporter, China. One of the largest importers of military products throughout the 20th century, over the past few years Beijing has firmly established itself as one of the largest arms exporters. Moreover, it is not only about increasing the quantitative and qualitative indicators of exports, but also about expanding the geography of supplies. This is especially important, given the fact that China is increasingly developing its military-technical cooperation with countries that are traditional partners of Russia. Moreover, Beijing has recently become more active in such sensitive areas for Moscow as the countries of Africa and Central Asia. The purpose of the work is to identify the current situation and trends in the development of China's military-technical cooperation with other countries from the point of view of Russian interests. To achieve the purpose, it is necessary to implement the following research tasks: - to study the modern systems of military-technical cooperation between Russia and China, to determine the prerequisites for the implementation of military-technical cooperation between China; - analyze the state of competition in the largest arms markets in terms of competition between Russia and China; - identify the main points of competition between Russia and China in the existing and prospective arms markets. The object of the study is China's military-technical cooperation with the countries under consideration. The subject of the study is the development of the Chinese military-technical complex from the point of view of competition with Russia in the world arms markets. Scientific novelty In this paper, for the first time, an attempt is made to comprehensively consider the general situation and existing points of competition between Russia and China in the arms markets. In contrast to the existing works, this study considers not only the main models of weapons and military equipment offered by the countries under consideration, but also the prerequisites and prospects for the development of competition. Literature First of all, the study will not consider the current state of military-technical cooperation between Russia and China. Without taking into account the fact that this problem is not included in the list of issues that will be research in the course of the dissertation, it can be said that it has already been sufficiently studied, both in the works of Russian researchers and in the studies of foreign authors. The development of military-technical cooperation between Russia and China was deeply studied in the works of M. Barabanov, V. Kashin, K. Makiyenko. The main trends in the development of military-technical cooperation between countries at the present stage are described in the works of S. Ignatiev, N. Antonova, and Zheng Qi. In addition, some authors assess the state of military-technical cooperation between Russia and China from the standpoint of the interests of third countries. Thus, the study of these issues was carried out by Zheng Qi, Bing Yu, and N. Fedorov. A significant role in the formation of the work is played by the works of domestic researchers related to the military-political and strategic partnership of the Russian Federation and China. The paper uses the works of such researchers of the problems of arms export, as G. N.Vachnadze, N. A. Ivanova, and A. A. Lentsov. The works of these authors are closely related to the analysis of the armed forces of different countries of the world, their weapons and imports of military products. Also, Ivanova's work is closely related to the problem of the dissertation, since her works are aimed at analyzing how to improve Russia's position in the global arms market, which is especially important given the growing export opportunities of countries such as China, Germany or France. The second and third chapters of the dissertation are devoted to where the greatest competition between China and Russia exists today, and also touches on promising markets where the greatest competition may arise. For this purpose, master thesis uses the works of domestic and foreign researchers, experts and analysts who study China as a world arms exporter and one of the largest states. Dissertation uses the works of Beyongo Mukete, which examines the methods of China in promoting its influence on the territory of the African continent. Also, the master's thesis uses the works of researchers M. Raski and R. Bitzinger, which are devoted to Chinese arms exports. In addition, an important role in the dissertation is occupied by the research of the expert C. Anthony, who studies the Chinese arms trade, particularly the sharp rise of China as one of the leading arms exporters, on the one hand, and the decline of its role as an importer, on the other. It is important to note the works devoted to China in Africa. Today, Africa is one of the most conflict-ridden regions, and it is also constantly expanding its arms imports. In this regard, the analysis of the literature on the development of the continent plays an important role. Thus, an important role in the dissetation is played by the work of A.Faith, which studies the issues of strategic development of Africa in recent years.  In addition, a number of special sources played an important role in shaping the work. These include analytical materials published by analytical and expert centers, as well as some works on China as an arms exporter. Such centers include the Center for Strategic Assessments and Forecasts, the Center for Military and Political Studies of MGIMO, and the author's materials of experts of the Russian Council for International Affairs. In addition, this includes the bmpd page in the LiveJournal, which is maintained by experts of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, where the author's analytical material is posted on issues of military and military-technical cooperation of different countries. It should be noted that neither in the domestic nor in the foreign literature there are no generalized research works devoted to a comprehensive review of the competition between Russia and China in the arms markets. Main reason is the fact that China is traditionally considered an importer of weapons, not an exporter, and therefore it has never been perceived by researchers as a potential competitor. In this regard, the question of China's real competitiveness has never been seriously raised before. Sources analysis  Due to the closeness of Chinese sources, the master thesis will not analyze the Chinese lows which are governing the management and structure of Chinese military-technical cooperation. Therefore, the structure of the military-technical complex of the People's Republic of China was studied on the basis of the works of experts engaged in the research of the military-industrial complex of China, as well as a number of sources that published information about the structure of the Chinese military-industrial complex. Among the authors who have studied the Chinese military-technical structure, we can distinguish the previously described M. Barabanov, V. Kashin, K. Makiyenko, who in their joint work conducted an analysis of the military-industrial complex of China. In addition, an important role in the formation of an understanding of the management structure and organization of Chinese military-technical cooperation was played by the materials of S. Ignatiev, published on the website of the Center for Strategic Assessments and Forecasts. The legislative framework in the work is presented in the form of normative legal acts and laws regulating Russian military-technical cooperation, methods of production of weapons and military equipment and its export. Despite the fact that the focus of the work will be on studying the situation of China, it is extremely necessary to study the basics of Russian military-technical cooperation in order to make a competent comparison. Here we can highlight the Federal Law of July 19 "On military-technical cooperation of the Russian Federation with foreign states", which regulates Russia's arms exports, Order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 1771 of July 7, 2012 "On consideration of requests from a foreign customer for the supply of military products and the determination of performers from among the subjects of military-technical cooperation", which regulates the procedure for distributing work between the subjects of military-technical cooperation for the export of military products, as well as the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation "On the regulations on the Russian parts of the intergovernmental commissions on military-technical cooperation between the Russian Federation and Foreign States", regulating relations between the Russian Federation and foreign states, both arms exporters and countries importing Russian military products. The role of analytical centers dealing with the arms trade should be noted. One of these sources, on the basis of which the master thesis will be based, is the databases of the SIPRI and CAWAT expert centers. Their materials provide information on total arms exports in a quantitative and temporal context. At the same time, it is worth noting that SIPRI and CAWAT have different approaches to the formation of their data. For example, SIPRI uses the "trend indicator" index in its calculation method, which involves counting the units actually moved. According to this system, the same valuation is used for similar types of weapons, which makes it possible to track trends and changes in the flow of weapons and illustrate their geographical distribution. At the same time, CAWAT takes into account both the volume of units being moved and their actual cost, which makes it possible to determine the actual cost of contracts being concluded or concluded as accurately as possible. In addition to the above-mentioned centers, the UN Register of Conventional Arms plays an important role in shaping the understanding of the world arms trade. However, countries do not provide a complete list of exported or imported weapons and military equipment, and therefore it is difficult to use it as a basis for research. It should be noted that the information materials of such expert centers as the Russian International Affairs Council, the Strategic Culture Foundation, Army Recognition, and Global Security play an important role in forming an overall picture of exported weapons and military equipment, understanding their characteristics, and creating a qualitative comparison. It cannot be ignored the role of information and analytical agencies that collect information on exported and manufactured weapons, their characteristics and users. Thus, the materials of the information agency "Military Review", which studies the export of weapons and provides information on military innovations and new contracts. Chinese news agencies, such as Xinhua News, Biang, and some others, which cover the activities of the PRC abroad, including in the military and military-technical sphere, occupy a significant place in the study. In addition, it is worth highlighting the sites and portals of the Ministries of Defense of the countries considered in the work. This is due to the fact that they often indicate up-to-date information on concluded contracts and contracts for the supply of certain types of weapons or military equipment. Despite the closeness of the topic, there are specific sources that allow to get some information related to arms exports or military-technical cooperation. The peculiarity of such sources is connected, on the one hand, with their informality, and, on the other, with their proximity to the persons dealing with the issues covered in the dissertation. Such sources often offer brief information message, which in other cases cannot be perceived as a real source of information. These types of sources include official Twitter accounts and blogs. The importance of Twitter is due to the fact that media or high-ranking people often post information on their personal pages about contracts concluded or successful transactions with representatives of other countries, companies or structures. The importance of blogs is due to the fact that they often publish information that cannot be published on the official pages of certain publishers. Methodology The achievement of the goal and the implementation of the tasks of the research work does not involve the use of any special methods. The general scientific methods of induction, deduction, analysis and synthesis, as well as the method of analogies, were used in the work. The structure of the work corresponds to the sequence of tasks. However, for the convenience of studying, the modern arms market and the system of military-technical cooperation are united in one chapter. The analysis of competition in the existing and prospective arms markets for Russia or China from the point of view of competition is divided into the corresponding chapters. Master thesis consists of an Introduction, the Main Part, including three Chapters, Conclusions, Appendices, as well as a list of literature and sources. The first chapter of the work examines the world arms market, its features of development and the current state. In addition, to complete the analysis of the system of military-technical cooperation of China, the first chapter will consider the system of military-technical cooperation of Russia, as well as their main differences. Also, the work will highlight the prerequisites for the implementation of military-technical cooperation and arms exports from the PRC. The second chapter of the paper is devoted to the existing competition in certain arms markets. Within the framework of the work, the arms markets of Africa and South Asia were selected. It is worth noting that as part of the study of the African arms market, such countries as Algeria, Egypt, Angola, Sudan and Nigeria will be considered. This is due to the fact that although Beijing and Moscow have military and military-technical cooperation with a much larger number of countries (for China, this number reaches 42 countries), the greatest participation, as well as the competition of both countries under consideration, is in these states. The choice of South Asia is also conditioned by the extremely strong position of both states on its territory. At the same time, the rest of Asia, with the exception of its central part, is divided according to areas of special interests, mainly between China and Russia. The selected countries in this region are Pakistan and Bangladesh, as having the largest economies and the most closely interacting with both the PRC and the Russian Federation. The third chapter is devoted to the study of the perspective from the point of view of competition arms markets. It will focus on the arms markets, where Russia has the largest presence and China's exports are increasing. Thus, this chapter will consider the competition between China and Russia in the arms markets of the post-Soviet countries, namely the countries of Central Asia and Belarus. This choice of countries is conditioned by the fact that on the one hand, these states are in the zone of Russian special interests and are traditional buyers of Soviet and Russian military equipment and weapons. On the other hand, today in these countries’ penetration in the military sphere from China's is most noticeable. Dissertation will not consider the Baltic countries, since they do not maintain any military and military-technical contacts with either Russia or China. In addition, the work will not involve the Caucasian states, such as Azerbaijan and Armenia. This is due to the fact that despite the agreements signed with China on military and military-technical cooperation, there is actually no import of weapons from Beijing to these countries. It is also worth noting why dissertation does not address other arms markets. For example, the Latin American arms market is not taken for study, even taking into account its prospects, due to the extremely small presence of China. Moreover, today Beijing is unlikely to be able to enter this arms market because of the extremely high competition from the United States, which has an overwhelming influence here. The arms markets of European countries are not taken into account, due to the almost complete lack of cooperation between Russia or China with these countries in the military sphere. Taking all this into account, dissertation will study the state of military-technical cooperation of Russia and China, as well as their competition in the arms markets of Algeria, Egypt, Angola, Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Belarus. 
В работе рассматривается состояние и перспективы развития военной кооперации между Россией и Китаем на мировом рынке вооружений. Особое внимание уделяется анализу существующих и потенциальных точек конкуренции между двумя странами. Автор подчеркивает, что несмотря на то, что Россия является одним из крупнейших экспортеров вооружений, она начала терять свои позиции на этом рынке из-за усиления позиций Китая.