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Mon,Oct 14,2013
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U.S. opposes China high-end arms sales

(People's Daily Online)    16:49, October 14, 2013
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Ismet Yilmaz, Turkey's Minister of National Defense, announced on September 26th that Turkey had opted for China's HQ-9 air defense system of as its next generation long-range air defense system, in a contract valued at USD 3 billion. The decision has caused a considerable international stir. The U.S. immediately declared its "serious concern". Professor Sun Zhe of Tsinghua University told the media in an interview that U.S. was trying to prevent Turkey from purchasing HQ-9 to block high-end sales of China military products.

According to analysts, although the Turkish government has declared that China's "HQ" missile system won an open tender, increasing pressure from western countries such as U.S. is muddying the waters of the international arms trade.

Sun Zhe observed that from the Chinese point of view the deal is supposed to be a win-win military product transaction, but the U.S. is extremely sensitive to it. The U.S. has referred the contract to an act which prohibits weapons proliferation to countries such as Iran, Syria and North Korea. But this is a domestic act, and it is therefore unreasonable to try to use it to prevent Turkey from cooperating with China on this basis.

According to Sun Zhe, U.S. also has two other major concerns. It is afraid that in the future China will become a player at the high-end level of the international military market. In the past China used to export a few simple weapon systems; now the ability to win an international contract with the HQ-9 has the U.S. extremely worried. The U.S. has been making a considerable effort to expand its arms business by reforming relevant domestic law. In addition to the fear that China's products will compete with theirs, a more important concern is that China will continue to sell more high-end military products in the future, which might indirectly form an 'anti-U.S./Europe' alliance employing Chinese weaponry.

(Editor:YanMeng、Yao Chun)

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