China is having a bit of trouble with its weapons deals lately. Part of the problem is that China is being accused — with a great deal of evidence — of cheating.
For example, Russia has officially notified Beijing that it is violating an agreement to produce advanced SU-27 Flanker fighter jets. According to Moscow, Chinese J-11 copies of the SU-27 violate several co-production agreements. As a result, Russia has started legal proceedings to protect its intellectual property.
According to an official announcement published in the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, “Chinese pirates have entered a new level of activity.”
“They mastered the production technology and developed the Chinese production of SU-27 analogues with a view to subsequently export the planes to Third World countries,” states the report which was also covered by Moscow’s official news outlet, Pravda.
Moscow has elected to cut off all new arms deals with communist China. The Chinese, in turn, are now producing SU-27 clones using home-made parts and are eyeing on exporting the jets to compete with Russia.
Russia has been complaining to Beijing that many of the arms deals were being violated with the Chinese copying radars, spacecraft, missiles and now . . . jet fighters. Russia is now determined to cease exports of its military technology to China, placing Beijing in the delicate role of criminal or as Pravda described them “Pirates.”
China is also having trouble delivering its weapons to new customers. A Chinese COSCO cargo ship believed to be carrying 77 tons of small arms, including more than 3 millions rounds of ammunition, AK-47 assault rifles, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades, is now sailing its way back to China after being sent away from several African ports.
Copies of the documentation for the Chinese ship, the An Yue Jiang, show that the weapons were sent from Beijing for delivery to Zimbabwe.
The weapons were to arrive into the hands of Zimbabwe military officials under troubled President Mugabe. The weaponry was clearly to be used by Mugabe’s forces to overturn the results of the recent national elections, which probably voted out the current dictator.
Zimbabwe is the most repressive, corrupt and inefficient government in Africa and thus, Mugabe is considered to be a good ally of Beijing. The shipment of arms arrived at the South African port of Durban where it was to move by truck to land-locked Zimbabwe.
However, the port workers union in South Africa refused to unload the weaponry, and South African police refused to fill in for the dock workers. So the An Yue Jiang went on its merry way with the cargo containers of ammunition still on board. The ship searched in vain for a friendly port to unload the deadly cargo for Mugabe but found that all the African states were closed, including Mozambique and Angola.
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