JH-7
Posted on 05/08/2011 8:54:54 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
China’s no to Kim’s request
North leader asked for 30 bomber jets
May 09, 2011
BEIJING - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il requested the Chinese government support the North with the latest in military weapons during his trip to China last May, according to a source in Beijing yesterday.
China turned down the request, he said.
“Kim Jong-il returned to North Korea from China last May in a bad mood,” the source said. “There may have been other reasons as well, but one of them was the Chinese government’s rejection of his request.”
Among the weapons that Kim asked for from China were 30 Jianjiji Hongzhaji fighter-bombers loaded with C-801 and C-802 anti-ship missiles.
The two-seat aircraft, also known as the “Flying Leopard,” is currently used by the People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
The source said Kim was convinced that North Korea should be prepared for a counter-strike from the United States and South Korea after the sinking of the Cheonan last March.
The North Korean leader also apparently tried to convince China that any attacks from the South and U.S. could spread to China.
The Beijing source said that China didn’t believe the North needed Flying Leopards, which have a range of 1,650 kilometers (1025 miles), because of its small sovereign airspace.
China turned down the request, saying that South Korea and the U.S. would be unable to attack if Kim Jong-il continued to insist that the North did not torpedo the Cheonan.
China has also never acknowledged that North Korea had been behind the sinking, which it has received criticism for from South Korea.
The source told the JoongAng Ilbo that Kim repeatedly told the Chinese leadership that North Korea had not sunk the Cheonan, even though Beijing sternly asked him about the incident three times during his trip.
After being rebuffed, the North Korean leader went straight home; skipping a performance of the “Dream of the Red Chamber” he was scheduled to attend at Beijing Television headquarters.
China’s refusal to help North Korea pushed Kim Jong-il to return to its biggest ally just a few months later, a rare occurrence for the North’s leader despite his precarious health condition at the time.
During Kim’s follow-up visit last August, he didn’t ask for military support but focused on crude oil and food, the source said.
Kim insisted China increase its crude oil support because a lack of fuel made the North’s warships inoperable during increased joint military drills by South Korea and the U.S.
Inter-Korean economic trade that had been cut as a punitive action by South Korea last May also hit the North hard, depriving it of fuel and food.
One analyst of North Korea-China relations said, “The cost of the weapons Kim Jong-il asked for amount to trillions of won, too much for China to accept in the first place.”
The analyst continued: “During the sensitive time when the Cheonan sank, Kim may have made an unreasonable demand, thinking he might be able to get some weapons and size up China’s willingness to support the North.”
By Chang Se-jeong [christine.kim@joongang.co.kr]
JH-7
I think also China fears that FBC-1A (the export version of the JH-7A) could be modified to carry nuclear weapons that North Korea designed and they would be used to strike various targets in South Korea even as far south as the port of Busan.
Waah! Little Kim didn’t get what he wanted! Waah!
Even the evil corrupt are smart enough to not lend their guns to their psychotic friend.
They probably just asked for cold, hard cash for the jets.
And Lil’ Kimmie had empty pockets.
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