Beijing buys Russian jet squadrons
By Cary Huang - Hong Kong Standard Monday June 21, 1999
CAPTION: Sukhoi-30:
Front-line fighter-bomber.
STORY: THE mainland's air
combat strength and military
ties with Russia have been
boosted with Moscow's
decision to sell 72 of its
front-line Sukhoi-30 jet
fighter-bombers to Beijing.
Following years of
negotiations, Russian
President Boris Yeltsin has given the green light to sell three
squadrons of the state-of-art combat aircraft to the mainland,
Russian diplomats said.
Moscow and Beijing had agreed in principle to negotiations on
the sale during Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Russia
early this year, Moscow-based diplomats said.
Until recently, both countries had only agreed on 72
twin-finned and twin-engined jets following the US-led Nato
air strikes against Yugoslavia, which both Beijing and Moscow strongly opposed.
It is understood negotiations for Moscow to grant a licence for
the production of another 250 Sukhoi-30 fighters in China
have also begun.
Last week a high-ranking military delegation, led by the
vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, Zhang
Wannian, visited the jet manufacturer.
The multi-billion US dollar sale will send a strong message to
the international community that Beijing and Moscow are
forging closer military ties in the face of the US-led western
alliance's aggressively expanded sphere of influence.
It is the first time that Russia has sold its most up-to-date
fighters to a foreign nation. Even during the Cold War,
Moscow would only sell second-best arms to its Warsaw Pact
allies.
The purchase is the mainland's largest single arms import in
recent years, diplomatic and military experts said.
In the past decade Beijing was eager to purchase
Russian-made arms to modernise its military in the face of
Western nations' upgrading of arms sales to Taiwan.
After Taiwan bought 60 Mirage-2000 fighters from France and 150 F-16 combat jets from the US Moscow agreed to sell 72
Sukhoi-27 planes to mainland China in 1995. Not long after
Beijing also obtained a Moscow licence to produce another
250 Sukhoi fighters on the mainland.
The deal will apparently give Beijing the edge in air combat in
its rivalry with Taiwan, military and diplomatic analysts said.
Moscow-based diplomatic sources said that while Russia only
agreed to sell export-model Sukhoi-30s to Beijing, India was
seeking a more sophisticated home-use model.
Moscow demonstrated the SU-30 fighter for the first time at
the Paris air show last week.
One of the planes crashed to the ground, bursting into flames
just a kilometre from spectators. No one was hurt and the two
pilots ejected safely.
The aircraft is considered the best plane ever made by
Russia. Research and development into the more advance
model, the Sukhoi-37 is under way.
Though recognising only Beijing, the US maintains an explicit
right to arm Taiwan _ although it stops short of saying it would defend Taiwan in face of a mainland attack.
Washington sells its best defence equipment to Taipei,
including Patriot anti-missile missiles and a wide range of
other missiles.