MOSCOW. Jan 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Lifting of the EU's embargo on arms exports to China will intensify rivalry between Russian and European arms manufacturers, Marat Kenzhetayev, an expert of the Disarmament Research Center of the Moscow Physics and Technology Institute, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
"Beijing is hardly satisfied with the current monopoly, enjoyed by the Russian side in the Chinese arms market at the present time. Trying to diversify arms contractors, Chinese authorities and brass regularly procured weapon systems from Ukraine, developed military technical cooperation with Israel, and turned to West European arms manufacturers more than once. Should the EU lift its arms export embargo, Russian arms manufacturers will face tougher rivalry on the part of European arms contractors," Kenzhetayev said.
At the same time he said that it was highly unlikely for the Chinese Army to sharply shift its focus towards European weapon systems. "This is not going to happen, first and foremost, because China is very pragmatic insofar arms exports are concerned, and, secondly, due to the very cautious stance of European leaders (at least during the initial period), and active public protests against military cooperation with states, showing considerable violations of human rights," he said.
"In the short and medium terms the Russian-Chinese and European-Chinese military technical cooperation is likely to diversify similar to that of India, i.e. sporadic procurements of western dual-purpose weapon system and certain (secondary) arms, as well as retrofitting Russian major combat platforms with western avionics, equipment, and armament," Kenzhetayev said.
According to him, Russian arms manufacturers, primarily those producing helicopters, radio electronics, communications systems, and missiles, will face West European rivalry in the Chinese arms market in the near future.
Kenzhetayev emphasized that according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, in 1995-2002 China signed USD17.8bn's worth of arms export contracts, thus, securing the lead among the world's major players. As far as arms exports are concerned, China has surpassed such traditional Middle East arms importers as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, etc.
At the same time Russia has accounted for the lion's share of all Chinese arms exports. In the 1990s China procured USD4bn's worth of arms from Russia, while in the past three years Russia and China have signed USD5bn's worth of arms export contracts, including deliveries of SU-30MKK multi-role fighters, Project 636 diesel submarines, Project 956E and 956EM destroyers, S-300PMU-2 air defense systems, and S-300F Rif shipborne air defense systems.