By Peng Yining (China Daily) 08:57, March 19, 2015
China confirmed an agreement to sell the HQ-9 air defense missile system to Turkey onTuesday, during the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition inMalaysia.
A representative of China National Precision Machinery Import &Export Corporation saidit was well-known that the Chinese FD-2000 system, a HQ-9 model for export, waschosen for the contract with Turkey in 2013.
The representative said in an interview with China Central Television that the FD-2000 isone of the most important products the corporation brought to the LIMA, Asia’s largestdefense and security exhibition.
Besides the FD-2000, Chinese military industry businesses also brought the F-22P frigateand LPD dock landing ship to the exhibition.
When Turkey chose the China National Precision Machinery Import &Export Corporationto co-produce a $4 billion long-range air and missile defense system in September 2013,China sold air defense weapons to a NATO member for the first time.
According to a report from CCTV’s website, the winning Chinese FD-2000 system beat theUS Patriot, the Russian S-400 and the French-Italian Eurosam Samp-T.
Turkish analysts said their choice of a Chinese firm was for technological reasons as well ascost effectiveness. The contract enables Turkey to have its own long-range missile defensesystem for the first time, according to CCTV.
After Turkey announced the decision to award the contract to China on Sept 26, NATOSecretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a few days later that he expected Turkeyto choose a system that was compatible with those of other allies, according to the XinhuaNews Agency.
The United States expressed serious concerns to Turkey, saying the Chinese missiledefense system would not work with NATO systems, Xinhua reported.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed hope that the parties involvedwill view the normal military trade between China and Turkey in an objective light and notpoliticize standard commercial competition.
The Chinese government has all along adopted a prudent and responsible attitude towardmilitary trade cooperation with foreign countries, she said.