No contracts to be signed at Russia-China commission meeting.

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23/11 Tass 151

MOSCOW, November 23 (Itar-Tass) - Representatives of the Russian and
Chinese defense ministries will discuss at the upcoming meeting of the
intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation joint
projects in all aspects of interaction in the given area, Mikhail
Dmitriyev, the director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical
Cooperation, taking part in the commission's meeting, told Itar-Tass on
Monday.

"At the meeting we will discuss calmly and in a planned way all the
promising projects, without singling out any of them, in every aspect of
our cooperation - aircraft construction, engines, ships, air defenses,
armored vehicles. There is no expectation of any breakthrough decisions
and signing of contracts. The final protocol will be signed upon the
conclusion of the commission's work," the director of the federal service
said.
He pointed out that Russia and China "have been maintaining normal
military-technical cooperation over many years, and its volume is huge."
"In accordance with the arrangements reached at the previous meeting of
the commission in Beijing last December, this cooperation not just
continues but achieves a higher, new qualitative level. There exit not
just buyer-seller relations but post-sale maintenance of armaments and
equipment, their licensed production and joint development of high-tech
military products," he said.
A source in the Russian defense-industry complex told ltar-Tass China
would not just continue licensed manufacture of the Su-27 and Su-30
fighter planes but would also interact with the Russian side on the entire
range of planes of the Su trademark, including the multi-functional Su-35
combat plane. "True, the Chinese side has not yet given a specific answer
to our proposal regarding the Su-35 plane. Perhaps, this will happen at
the commission's meeting," said the source.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported the commission's meeting will be
held on November 25 and will be co-chaired by Russian Defense Minister
Anatoly Serdyukov and Deputy Chairman of the General Military Council of
the PRC, Colonel -General Guo Boxiong, who arrives in Russia on a visit
on Monday at the head of the Chinese military delegation.
Dmitriyev noted that China, alongside India, is the main and most
important partner of Russia in the area of the military-industrial
cooperation. The share of these two countries, until recently, made up
over 50 percent in Russia's military-technical cooperation with foreign
countries. Now their share decreased to a certain extent with the growth
of Russia's cooperation with African, Middle East and Latin American
countries, but it still exceeds 40 percent.
"We treasure our cooperation with these states and are going to
develop and intensify it," Dmitriyev said.
Director-General of Rosoboronexport State Corporation Anatoly Isaikin
said, China, in the past 15 years, had been one of the biggest buyers of
Russian armaments, purchasing them to the sum of up to 2.7 billion dollars
a year. The volume of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the military area
made up 16 billion dollars since 2001. China, specifically, purchased some
200 Su-27 and Su-30 planes, several battalions of S-300 anti-aircraft
systems, surface ships, diesel-powered submarines, cannons and armored
equipment.
The fact that Russia's first big contract in military-technical
cooperation in 2009 was with China is an indication of the continued
successful development of cooperation in this area. The contract envisages
the delivery of over 100 aviation engines for Chinese G-10 aircraft.
Several contracts on naval equipment, air defense systems, and combat
planes may soon be concluded. But there are a number of problems in
seemingly unclouded Russian-Chinese military-technical cooperation. One of
the most serious problems is China's copying of Russian armaments and its
attempts to sell them to third countries bypassing Russia. The
Russian-Chinese agreement on the protection of intellectual property in
the area of military-technical cooperation signed in Beijing in December
last should help resolve this problem. After the signing of the agreement,
the sides must develop mechanisms for defining objects of intellectual
property, ways of their protection, and procedures of spotting violations
and imposing fines.
-0-saf/gor