There Are No Customers For China's Fighter Jets

Reuters

Richard A. Bitzinger, Asia Times: Chinese fighter jets struggle to target buyers

The high-tech wannabees of Asia are going through a bit of a rough patch lately. India has to postpone its Chandrayaan-2 moon mission just an hour before launch, due to a “technical snag.” Japan is imposing controls on the transfer of certain technologies to South Korea, which could impair the latter’s smartphone and semiconductor sectors.

A bit more obscure but just as critical a development is affecting China’s fighter jet business. The Pakistanis have announced that they will start building a more advanced version of its JF-17 combat aircraft, for deployment in 2020.

With these new “Block III” versions, Pakistan will by the middle of the next decade operate up to 200 JF-17 fighters. And each JF-17 it purchases means one less opportunity for China to sell its own fighter jets to its best customer.

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WNU Editor: Selling sophisticated and expensive weapons is never easy .... as the Chinese are quickly learning.