Friendship with a sight
10:07, — Politics
Can there be anything in common between small Belarus and ambitious China? As a matter of fact, China seeks an access to the military technologies in exchange for investments into the Belarusian economy.
Actually it’s not a secret. As A. Lukashenka has repeatedly emphasized, the Belarusian leadership has no secret issues to discuss with the PRC. According to the official data, the cooperation in the military and technological spheres is being developed within 150 directions, weekly “Belorusy I Rynok” reports.
The obvious intention of the Chinese administration to get the Belarusian technologies of double and military purpose can be explained with the fact that for the last 20 years NATO members have been prohibited from supplying modern weapon system to China. The prohibition was imposed after the harsh treatment of the demonstration at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Pedestals don’t stay empty for long. China’s capacious military market became dominated by other countries, mainly Russia and Israel, which is a reason for Europe’s constant demands to lift the embargo that deprived the European countries of the income of weapon exports to China. Nevertheless, inexorable Washington tries to prevent China from using Western European modern weapons in a potential attack at the American troops that protect Taiwan from the People’s Liberation Army of China.
At the same time, the USA now demands that Israel cuts down on foremost military technologies supplies to China. Russia, in its turn, has been dominating the Chinese weapon market so far. Now Moscow treats the growing economic powers of its neighbour with caution, moreover that the latter claims Russia’s vast territories.
As a result, China’s counterweight India is now supplied with much more foremost weapons than the PRC, which Beijing is dissatisfied with.
Presently, China is still dependant on foreign supplies – mainly from Russia – of modern battle and transport aircrafts, anti-missile defence elements, above-water military vessels and submarines, cruise and aeroballistic missiles of various purposes.
China has been persistently attempting to diversify its supplies. But Beijing’s main goal is to move from buying ready-made patterns to importing and adapting most modern military and double purpose technologies. And in this matter Chinese military men and military industrial complex officials treat Belarus with growing interest.
In reply to critics’ remarks that Minsk cannot offer Beijing an adequate substitute for the American, European, Israeli and even Russian military technologies, the recent statement by first assistant chairperson of the Belarusian State Military Industrial Committee (MIC) Piotar Ragazheuski can be cited.
According to the official, the MIC is ready to offer a wide range of technologies and products: automated systems of weapons and troops control; systems of under-water; fiber and radio contact for mobile and permanent automatic control system, aerospace optoelectronic devices and photogrammetric complexes for digital maps of the Earth and navigational maintenance of high-precision weapons; applied programme complexes of anti-missile defence radio-locating, laser-optical, and information elements control; stations of missile attack alarm; systems of space control.
Minsk can provide the *dissocial regimes* with the equipment for digital maps that can be used for guidance of high-precision weapons, and this possibility alarms European military analysts.
Moreover, Ukraine has recently sold air-based cruise missiles Kh-55 (USA term) or AS-15 Kent (NATO term) to China and Iran. The missiles can deliver a 200 kiloton nuclear charge at 2.5-3 thousand km.
At the same time experts claim neither China nor Iran will use these missiles, because, first of all, these countries have neither launcher aircrafts (mostly Russian strategic rocket carriers Tu-95MC and TU-160), nor special equipment for flight missions entering (digital maps with set route) installed at air-based cruise missiles.
But there is an opposite opinion. Missile carriers Tu-95MC, Tu-160, as well as Tu-22M2, Tu-22M3, battle bombers Su24, and even fighters Su27 can be adapted to deliver air-based cruise missiles, while equipment for digital maps can be easily purchased the way the missiles were bought. The main thing is not to be avid.
