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| S-400 Triumf (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Zachary Keck
China and Taiwan are both seeking significant upgrades to their air defense systems in the years ahead.
China and Taiwan are both primed to invest heavily in air and missile defense systems in the coming years.
On the one hand, there have been more and more signs that China will become the first foreign customer of Russia’s most advanced anti-missile system, the S-400. China’s People’s Liberation Army already operates the Russian-made S-300 anti-missile system, and Beijing and Moscow have reportedly been negotiating over the S-400 since 2010. These talks have reportedly been slowed by a number of issues, including Russia’s concern that China would reverse-engineer the advanced anti-air and anti-missile system.
As The Diplomat noted back in April, the two sides have reportedly made progress on overcoming these issues this year, and Russian media outlets have reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved in principle the sale of between two and four S-400 air and missile defense systems to China.
This was all but confirmed last month by Sergei Ivanov– formerly, Russia’s defense minister and deputy prime minister, and currently Putin’s chief of staff. Speaking to state media outlets in Russia, Ivanov said “The chances that China may be the first foreign buyer [of S-400s] are high.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat