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June 27, 2005
Contradiction corrected
This seems to represent an interesting bit of progress:
Israel and the US have reportedly agreed to defuse a row over Israel's arms sales to countries such as China.
The two are to sign a deal promising each will take the other's concerns into account when selling weapons, Israel's Haaretz newspaper says
As I've noted before, there has seemed to be a contradiction in Bush administration policy between its loyalty to Israel and its fear of China. With this new agreement, it seems that fear of China has won out. Haaretz provides some context:
The memorandum [outlining the arms agreement], which is to put an end an export crisis with the U.S., will state that the U.S. and Israel are "strategic partners" and that each country will be considerate of the other's concerns about military technology being transferred to other countries. The countries "arousing concern" will be specified separately.
The dispute erupted at the end of last year following Washington's demand that Israel not return to China spare parts of Harpy UAVs (drones). The Israeli-manufactured UAVs had been sold to China and were sent here for repairs. This conflict is one of the gravest ever to erupt between the two countries in recent years.
Under the agreement, to be termed "Declaration of Understanding on Technology Exports," both countries will undertake to maintain transparency regarding weapons sales to countries considered worrisome. The U.S. will explicitly pledge not to ban defense deals on commercial grounds, thereby allaying Israeli defense establishment concerns that the Americans would try to hurt Israeli defense businesses and push them out of the international market."
So there appears to be plenty of soft, gentle language here to hide the fact that the Bush administration is pulling rank on the Israelis. And I have to admit, I'm surprised that they came down on Sharon decisively. Maintaining illogical and unsustainable policy contradictions has seemed to be par for the course for the Bush administration, so I have to give them credit for coming down on one side of the issue. Whether erring on the side of Chinese fear over Israeli loyalty was the right call isn't the issue; that the Bush administration actually made a tough choice is.
The Chinese, for their part, are a bit peeved:
Accusing the Bush administration of "carping" and "outside interference," China issued a sharp complaint Monday after Israel cancelled a controversial Israeli-Chinese arms deal under pressure from the United States.
The Israeli decision halted the sale of drone aircraft capable of seeking out radar installations. It was the result of a U.S. campaign to block China from obtaining advanced military technology that could be used against Taiwan and U.S. forces supporting the island in any confrontation.
Well, ok. One should remember that China really had no choice but to complain. I'm sure they'd like to give Israel their business in order to repair their radar-seeking drones, but in the big picture, they're just drones. This deal won't in any serious way crimp China's military modernization. Indeed, its relevance isn't on the Chinese side of the equation; it's on the U.S.-Israeli side. China can take care of itself.
Posted by Daniel Widome at 10:08 PM to Asia,
