Airbornelawyer
12-20-2004, 11:17
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5232138&startrow=1&date=2004-12-20&do_alert=0
2004-12-20 17:58 * RUSSIA * ARMS * EXPORT * CHINA *
CHINA CONTEMPLATING NEW CONTRACTS FOR SUPPLY OF FIGHTER JETS FROM RUSSIA
MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov met with his Chinese counterpart, Cao Gangchuan, in Beijing last week. According to media reports, a bilateral commission co-chaired by the ministers then signed a protocol setting forth guidelines for military cooperation between Russia and China through the year 2010.
Officials at Russia's Defense Ministry and state-owned arms conglomerate Rosoboronexport have not confirmed the information so far. But the business newspaper Vedomosti quotes sources close to aircraft manufacturing companies as saying that the protocol envisages, among other things, the signing in 2005 of a long-awaited contract for the supply of 24 Su 30MK2 fighter jets to China's Navy. Also next year, the sides are reportedly planning to sign a contract to carry on with the licensed assembly of Russian Su-27 fighters in China.
The signing of the protocol marks an end to a pause in Russian-Chinese arms trade, military experts note. Talks on cooperation in the defense sector stalled this past spring as China said it would now import only the most advanced of Russian armaments while Russia insisted on the extension of contracts for the supply of older arms models. This conflict prompted China to push for the lifting of the embargo on arms imports from the European Union, which had been imposed back in 1989.
But the EU is still unwilling to develop military cooperation with China. And even if the arms trade embargo is eventually lifted, European countries will not sell fighter jets and war ships to China anyway, ceding to pressure from the United States.
The first contract for the supply of 24 SU-30MK2 naval fighter jets, worth a total of over 1 billion dollars, was signed in January 2003. The agreement for licensed assembly of SU-27 jets, providing for the supply of spare parts for 200 aircraft, had been concluded seven years earlier. As of the beginning of 2004, 105 of the 200 sets were delivered.
Some 40 percent of Russian arms exports via Rosoboronexport fell on China's share last year, the Center for Disarmament Studies reports. In 2002, the figure was 58 percent.
2004-12-20 17:58 * RUSSIA * ARMS * EXPORT * CHINA *
CHINA CONTEMPLATING NEW CONTRACTS FOR SUPPLY OF FIGHTER JETS FROM RUSSIA
MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov met with his Chinese counterpart, Cao Gangchuan, in Beijing last week. According to media reports, a bilateral commission co-chaired by the ministers then signed a protocol setting forth guidelines for military cooperation between Russia and China through the year 2010.
Officials at Russia's Defense Ministry and state-owned arms conglomerate Rosoboronexport have not confirmed the information so far. But the business newspaper Vedomosti quotes sources close to aircraft manufacturing companies as saying that the protocol envisages, among other things, the signing in 2005 of a long-awaited contract for the supply of 24 Su 30MK2 fighter jets to China's Navy. Also next year, the sides are reportedly planning to sign a contract to carry on with the licensed assembly of Russian Su-27 fighters in China.
The signing of the protocol marks an end to a pause in Russian-Chinese arms trade, military experts note. Talks on cooperation in the defense sector stalled this past spring as China said it would now import only the most advanced of Russian armaments while Russia insisted on the extension of contracts for the supply of older arms models. This conflict prompted China to push for the lifting of the embargo on arms imports from the European Union, which had been imposed back in 1989.
But the EU is still unwilling to develop military cooperation with China. And even if the arms trade embargo is eventually lifted, European countries will not sell fighter jets and war ships to China anyway, ceding to pressure from the United States.
The first contract for the supply of 24 SU-30MK2 naval fighter jets, worth a total of over 1 billion dollars, was signed in January 2003. The agreement for licensed assembly of SU-27 jets, providing for the supply of spare parts for 200 aircraft, had been concluded seven years earlier. As of the beginning of 2004, 105 of the 200 sets were delivered.
Some 40 percent of Russian arms exports via Rosoboronexport fell on China's share last year, the Center for Disarmament Studies reports. In 2002, the figure was 58 percent.