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| China's Zubr class Landing Craft Air-Cushion (File Photo) |
After forming a security partnership with Russia to counter US influence in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific, China wants to use its military parade in Beijing on Sept. 3 to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II to improve its relationship with Ukraine, according to the Global Times, a paper published under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.
Beijing gave tacit support to Moscow by not speaking out against the annexation of Crimea last year as it sought a partnership with Russia to counterbalance the US "Asia Pivot" strategy in the Pacific. After Ukraine's Feodosia Shipbuilding Company, which manufactures the Zubr-class air-cushioned landing craft, suddenly found itself in Russian hands, Beijing had to restart negotiations with Moscow to secure the second pair of four vessels it had originally purchased from Kiev.
Feodosia cannot however produce the Kuznetsov NK-12MV gas turbine engine which powers the craft. Each of the four landing craft require five of the turbines. As the Zubr-class landing craft is considered significant for China's power projection in maritime regions fraught with territorial disputes, a move to woo Ukraine would appear to be on the cards.
Read the full story at Want China Times