Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Forces, discussing the joint Russian-Chinese exercise that will take place later this year, (half-jokingly?) said that Russia could sell its Tu-22M Blackjack or Tu-95MS Bear bombers to China. "We'll show our equipment to our neighbors to get them interested in buying it” – he reportedly said.
It’s all well, but what the president will say? Just the other day he reprimanded scientists in Novosibirsk for trying to get money for their IT center from China. Kommersant quoted Putin as saying – “I don’t get it, why China? […] We should watch out not to give China easy access to [our technology] in these [economic zones]. Be very careful about it.”
Well, maybe bombers are low-tech enough to be transferable. And China is a strategic partner after all.
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"Well, maybe bombers are low-tech enough to be transferable. And China is a strategic partner after all."
Yes, maybe. It also turns out China imminently becomes a powerful neighbor. Yet, shall we expect it to remain our partner? I don't know. We have to be very careful with this ancient civilization...
But this is exactly the point - the words "strategic partner" are a direct quote from Mr. Putin. And in the next sentence he is saying that China sould not be allowed to those "high-tech" zones.
I think this does reflect very mixed feelings that most Russians have about China. I would think that although China is indeed becoming a very powerful neighbor, we should not overestimate the military dimension of this power. Or Russia's ability to counter China's influence in the region with military force.