China seeks oil for arms in Latin AmericaBy Andrei Chang
Column: Military MightPublished:
October 31, 2008Hong Kong, China — China has been making extensive efforts to penetrate the Middle East and Africa, especially by trading arms for oil. In recent years China has also stepped up its efforts to acquire oil from Central and South America, again offering weapons in exchange, as well as space technology. Its top targets are Venezuela and Brazil.
On Thursday Venezuela sent its first communications satellite into space, built with Chinese technology and launched from China’s Sichuan province. The Venezuelan Air Force has also recently purchased three JYL-1 aircraft radar systems from China.
Venezuela under President Hugo Chavez has sought most of its military hardware from Russia. Among other things, it bought 24 Su-30MK2 fighters in 2006, and plans to purchase the upgraded Su-35 in its next stage of procurement, according to a source from the Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi.
At the same time, Venezuela aspires to acquire China’s J-10A fighters; President Chavez has disclosed that negotiations with Beijing have been underway for some time.Venezuela and China are also close to a deal on the import of 24 Chinese-made K-8 trainer aircraft, according to a source from the Moscow aviation industry. Chavez announced the deal before his visit to China in September, but Beijing has not officially confirmed it.
It appears that China has been actively promoting the K-8 to Latin American countries, however. A source from the Chilean Air Force told the author that China had offered Chile a very attractive price, and even offered to trade the aircraft for other goods.
In the case of Venezuela, it is likely that the aircraft would be exchanged for crude oil. Once Venezuela receives the K-8 trainers, negotiations can be expected to go forward on the procurement of the J-10A fighters. China in fact has been promoting the J-10As to Venezuela and Pakistan under a new name, the FC-20. Even if Venezuela imports more Su-30MK2s from Russia, the Venezuelan Air Force will still need a large number of cheaper fighters to strengthen its fleet.
The Venezuelan Air Force currently has 23 F-5 serial fighters, 16 Mirage 50s and 22 F-16A/Bs. It may intend to procure the J-10As to replace the existing F-5 serial fighters. Given the friendly relations between China and Venezuela, it is highly likely that China will send a team of air force pilots to Venezuela to study the latter’s F-16s, in order to understand the features and performance of the U.S.-made aircraft, with which the Taiwanese Air Force is also equipped. Chavez once claimed that he would give F-16 fighters from the Venezuelan Air Force to both China and Russia.
Alongside their military deals, China and Venezuela have been cooperating extensively in the oil industry. In May 2008, the Venezuelan News Press reported that China Petrochemical Corporation, or Sinopec, was signing a US$2 billion contract with Venezuela’s state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA Company. The contract provides for the joint establishment of a large refinery in China’s southern province of Guangdong.
In 2007, Sinopec and PDVSA announced they would jointly invest US$10 billion to develop Venezuela’s Orinoco oilfield. During his visit to China in 2006, Chavez had already signed an oil contract worth US$11 billion with China.
It was after this visit that Chavez made the surprise announcement that he wanted to import J-10A fighters from China. --
(Andrei Chang is editor-in-chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto, Canada.)
http://www.upiasia.com/Security/2008/10 ... rica/6217/