The Economist.
In the four years since Russia's full scale invasion,
this sound has become familiar across the battlefields of Ukraine.
If you haven't guessed already, it's the buzzing of an aerial drone.
From real-time intelligence gathering to logistics, to low-cost kamikaze attacks,
the war in Ukraine has demonstrated the transformative role
that aerial drones can play in shaping the course of a conflict.
And their deployment in Iran and across the Middle East in the last few weeks
is providing further lessons for military leaders worldwide.
But as their importance for modern warfare has increased, so has China's dominance of their production.
You don't want to buy things that when you actually want to use it,
they are assets of your adversaries,
so you want to make sure it's non-red.
It's non made in China.
China produces somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of the world's commercial drones.
It also produces the majority of drone components and controls the supply chain of crucial materials
like rare earth minerals for production of both civilian and military drones.
And that's worrying Western militaries who fear Chinese espionage, sabotage,
and supply chain manipulation in the event of open conflict with the West.
I'm Jeremy Page, The Economist's China correspondent based in Taipei,