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Jiang criticizes U.S. pressure on Israel

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Friday, April 14, 2000

JERUSALEM [MENL] -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who appears to have cancelled a visit to Israeli defense industries, has criticized U.S. insistence that Israel halt arms sales to Beijing.

Jiang's veiled criticism came during a state dinner. "With the collapse of the centuries-long colonialist system and the end of half a century of Cold War, it has become increasingly difficult for hegemonism and power politics to go on and for the very few big powers or blocs of big powers to monopolize international affairs and control the fate of other countries," Jiang said.

Jiang continued his visit to Israel on Thursday with a tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. Earlier, China and Israel signed agreements on education and industrial technology research and development.

China has never acknowledged that it buys weapons from Israel. But officials said Beijing reserves the right to buy weapons from anybody.

Officials said Jiang's visit to Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd., Lod, was dropped from his public schedule after President Bill Clinton and many in Congress complained of the Israeli sale of an airborne early-warning system to Beijing. IAI's Elta Electronics Industries manufactures the Phalcon system.

President Ezer Weizman echoed the assessment of Israeli officials that the U.S. pressure regarding the Phalcon deal would not jeopardize relations with Beijing. "Israel gives great weight to its relations with China and sees a wide basis for further cooperation in the fields of economics, agriculture, science, medicine and culture," Weizman said.

Israeli officials have complained that the Clinton administration waited for three years until it protested the Phalcon deal. They said Prime Minister Ehud Barak urged Clinton in his meeting on Tuesday in Washington not to press the issue.

"There cannot be a situation where every time there is a little movement toward the interests of Israel someone will give an order and we'll obey," Foreign Minister David Levy said.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said the United States expressed concern as early as 1996 over the Phalcon deal. "This might be the most visible and public objection to the sale recently, perhaps, with Secretary Cohen in Israel. But our position has been consistent for this three- plus-year period," Rear Admiral Craig Quigley said.

Quigley said the United States cannot provide Israel assurances that other U.S. allies, such as Britain and France, would provide similar technology to China. "I don't think we could offer those assurances," he said. "It would kind of start the process over again."

In a related development, the U.S. publication Aviation Week reports that Israel plans to develop three types of long-range missiles and two types of anti-ballistic missile Unmanned Aerial Vehicles over the next decade. This includes the Python 5 as well as another air-to-air missile with a longer range. A third missile is being designed to strike ballistic missile launchers.

Israel has already begun discussions of procuring 50 F-22s, the new fighter planned for deployment in the U.S. air force. The magazine said the F-22 will be delivered to Israel by 2007.

Friday, April 14, 2000


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