25 March 2013

The chinese government reportedly agreed to buy 24 fighter jets and four submarines from Russia as part of efforts to buttress its defense preparedness.The deal was signed just before the Chinese president, Xi Jinping made his maiden trip to Russia. This trip was his first international enagement outside China and the choice of Russia as his destination was significant in the eyes of sino-american supremacy watchers like us.

The deal included 24 SU-35 fighter jets and four Lada-class submarines, according to china central television ( CCTV ). The source further said the two countries were expected to
co-operate more in developing military technology including S-400 long-range anti-aircraft missiles, 117s large thrust engines, IL-476 large transport aircraft and IL-78 aerial tankers.

China hopes to elevate its Asia Pacific military presence in apparent effort to counter growing US military presence in that region. Russia allegedly occupies some japanese island and china likewise claims japanese Senkaku islands as part of chinese territory. On the other hand Japan and the US have a defense pact that aims to shield Japan from external aggresion. The matrix becomes even more interesting when interests of other regional states such as the koreas, phillipines and vietnam are factored in. Its intructive to note that china also claims some islands from vietnam and Phillipines.

Mnj