FM spokeswoman defends Turkey-China missile defence deal

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FM spokeswoman defends Turkey-China missile defence deal

(Xinhua) 19:03, October 08, 2013

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BEIJING, Oct. 8 -- Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Tuesday responded to NATO and U.S. concern over Turkey's decision to co-produce a missile defence system with a Chinese firm by describing such military trade between China and Turkey as normal.

Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz announced the decision to award the contract to China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp. on Sept. 26.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that he expected Turkey to choose a system that was compatible with those of other allies.

The United States has expressed serious concerns to Turkey, saying the Chinese missile defence system would not work with NATO systems.

Hua told a regular press briefing that the concern of Western countries is unreasonable and unnecessary.

She expressed hope that the parties involved will view the normal military trade between China and Turkey in an objective light and not politicize standard commercial competition.

The Chinese government has all along adopted a prudent and responsible attitude toward military trade cooperation with foreign countries, she said.

According to the spokeswoman, China strictly follows the principles of not impairing peace and stability regionally or globally, non-interference in internal affairs of the recipient countries and strictly performing its international obligations.

The winning Chinese FD-2000 system beat the U.S. Patriot, the Russian S-400 and the French-Italian Eurosam Samp-T, according to media reports.

Turkey, which has the second-largest deployable military force in the NATO alliance, has no long-range missile defence system of its own.

（Editor：WangXin、Hongyu）