By WENDELL MINNICK
New, Better Products on Display at Zhuhai Show
ZHUHAI, China — Those who bought a Chinese tank or ship or plane in the 1960s or 1970s were most likely putting their troops in double jeopardy — facing an enemy with equipment that was, at best, cheap imitation Soviet junk not even trusted by Russian troops.
This is not the case today, as the ninth biennial Airshow China proved to attendees here last week. Russian imitations of aircraft, radar, missiles and other equipment are being supplanted by high-quality made-in-China replacements. Granted, much of the equipment has Russian or Ukrainian roots, but Chinese engineers and manufacturers have learned just about as much as can be learned from them. China’s military industrial revolution has come of age.
No more evidence is needed after last week’s Zhuhai airshow — the biggest, best organized and friendliest to date. Much of this can be attributed to a growing sense of pride among the Chinese in their emerging role in the world’s geostrategic balance.
One U.S. defense analyst, a longtime Zhuhai attendee, said there was a “boatload of new stuff, including a lot of new weapons we have never seen before. It is going to be like drinking from a fire hose.”
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