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Turkey, China cooperation on ballistic missiles not new

Turkish defense industry insiders are dismayed with US pressure on Turkey for it reaching a deal with China, as this is not the first time they have cooperated.
Visitors to the China Aviation Museum located on the outskirts of Beijing walk under old missiles on display August 17, 2010. China is expanding its military edge over Taiwan, increasing the lethality of its short-range ballistic missiles while raising the risk of "misunderstanding and miscalculation," the Pentagon said on Monday, just a day after a leading armed forces newspaper said that China's military thinking is outmoded and they should learn from others, especially the United States, when it comes to

The United States is ramping up the pressure on Turkey to give up on its decision to go ahead with the deal it reached with China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC) to acquire a long-range anti-missile system. What troubles the United States with this deal is not only that this Chinese firm is subject to US sanctions but also — in the words of a US defense industry insider speaking to Al-Monitor — “China has actually figured out how to penetrate the NATO arms market, and this is an unprecedented coup that has woken up a lot of people.”

In the 2014 military spending bill, the US Congress has taken up the task to make this purchase for Turkey undesirable. If the bill passes as proposed, it will ban the use of US money to integrate Chinese missile defense systems with US or NATO systems, meaning Turkey would be forced to spend a whole lot more to benefit from this system in any meaningful way — it will not mean a thing without it being incorporated with the remaining essential parts of an operational system.

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