Kolkata, India — The five-day detention by Indian authorities of a United Arab Emirates Air Force plane, impounded at Kolkata Airport on Sept.6, has created another ripple in Sino-Indian relations and embarrassed the UAE into the bargain. The aircraft, bound for China, was found to be carrying weapons that had not been declared to customs officials.
The UAEAF C-130 Hercules had made a routine refueling stop at Kolkata Airport en route to the city of Xianyang in central China. When Indian customs officers conducted an equally routine inspection of the plane’s cargo hold, they found weapons in crates marked “combat missiles.” Worse, the crew had failed to declare the cargo to authorities in the mandatory customs declaration form.
The crew was detained for interrogation by Air Intelligence in India, where one of the crewmembers reportedly confessed to failing to notify authorities of the presence of weapons on board.
The aircraft was released on Sept.10 after the UAE government said that the act of omission happened due to a “technical error,” and apologized.
Initial reports had suggested that the plane’s undeclared cargo, marked as combat missiles, contained U.S.-origin weapons. Other reports later hinted that harpoon anti-ship missiles procured by the UAE and Egypt were being moved to China secretly.
This speculation of course sits well with the long-held belief that certain Middle Eastern countries act as procurement fronts for China with respect to Western equipment, as China has faced an arms embargo by Western countries since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
The arms embargo forced China to rely increasingly on Russian imports and their subsequent reverse engineering to keep its arsenal contemporary. However, China’s interest in Western advances in weaponry did not diminish, and clandestine methods for sourcing such arms were resorted to.
Indeed, prima facie, the quantum of arms purchased by states such as UAE, Egypt and Pakistan seems disproportionate to their requirements and financial capability. This leads one to suspect the presence of an offshore entity for their grand arms purchases from Western suppliers. The needle of suspicion points rather strongly to China, given the special relationship it shares with each of these states.
However, the Chinese themselves seem to have declared that the arms being ferried on the UAE plane were of Chinese origin and were exhibits at a recent arms show in Abu Dhabi. Furthermore, a Chinese analyst, piqued at the prospect of Indian authorities examining their military equipment, declared it an act of wanton espionage.
China’s Global Times quotes Dai Xu, described as a Chinese military expert, saying, “The actions by Indian authorities violated diplomatic rights as the cargo on board belongs to China. Any inspection on board, which may have violated China’s property rights and constituted spying on its military secrets, should be approved by both the UAE and China.”
It must be noted that of late several articles taunting India on its relative position vis-à-vis China have appeared in the Chinese media. There has even been “an Internet paper” – really a diatribe – written by another elusive Chinese analyst calling for the balkanization of India.
It seems Beijing has taken Track II diplomacy to a whole new level by carefully choosing its words at the official level while simultaneously allowing state-run mouthpieces to let it rip on India. However, Indian media have raised grave concerns and the Indian public has not taken very kindly to these musings by unofficial Chinese commentators.
The UAE could certainly have done without the incident, especially at a time when the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, is doing the rounds of Washington, lobbying for legislative approval of a 123 agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with the United States. Signed at the end of former U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration, the nuclear agreement is slated to pass around Oct. 17, unless there is Congressional action blocking it.
Several U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns over the UAE’s lack of export controls. Lawmakers in the United States are more concerned about weapons proliferation to Iran. There have been instances in the past where China and Iran have collaborated in clandestinely obtaining banned systems, like the secret procurement of AS-15 Kent cruise missiles from the Ukraine. This has subsequently been reverse engineered by the Chinese in the form of the DH-10 land attack cruise missile.
China’s dealings with India seem to be a mix of diplomatic hectoring and force posturing along the disputed border. The Indian establishment so far seems to have maintained its equanimity in diplomatic terms because China policy in India continues to be guided essentially by a politico-bureaucratic set up.
The Chinese government would do well to note that any further escalation, at least in the perception of the Indian establishment, may lead to the Indian military being given a far greater say in Sino-Indian relations. That may not look good on the curriculum vitae of a “peacefully rising” power.
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(Saurav Jha works as an independent consultant in the energy sector in India. He is consulting editor of India Power magazine and author of a forthcoming book on nuclear power. He can be contacted at sjha1618@gmail.com. ©Copyright Saurav Jha.)
This article first appeared here
2 comments:
Wow, good one DFC. The arms smugglers are killing us.
Thanks Ralphy.
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