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| SU-27 of the Russian Knights aerobatic team |
Samuel Hui in Zhuhai
Five Su-27 fighters from the Russian Knights aerobatic team put on a spectacular display in the skies above Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province, where the biannual China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition is currently taking place. The display is a reminder of the complex relationship between Beijing and Moscow as both face the strategic challenge of the US return to the Asia-Pacific region.
Since purchasing Su-27 fighters from Russia in 1992, China has designed its own J-11 which takes the Russian fighter as its blueprint. The PLA Air Force in fact goes far enough to maintain that the J-11 is the superior aircraft. The Russian Knights are therefore not visiting Zhuhai in order to promote and ultimately sell the planes they are flying in. Quite the contrast — Moscow has rejected requests from Beijing to purchase more advanced fighters including the Su-33 and Su-35 for fear that Chinese technicians will manage similar feats of reverse engineering.
Read the full story at Want China Times