By Wendell Minnick
TAIPEI — As China becomes the first export customer of the Russian-built Su-35 multirole fighter aircraft, some observers have raised the question of whether Beijing intends to reverse engineer the plane as it did with an earlier sale with Russia.
A US $2 billion deal for 24 fighters was reported Thursday in the Russian daily Kommersant newspaper and TASS news agency.
Chinese interest in the fighter dates back to 2006, but was not confirmed by Russian officials until the 2012 Zhuhai Airshow. The Su-35 first appeared at the 2014 Zhuhai Airshow, leading to speculation a contract was imminent.
Beijing has yet to confirm the deal and is normally secretive about military sales, but China’s media outlet, Global Times, quoted Fu Qianshao, a Beijing-based air defense specialist, as calling the signing a “crucial step for military trade” with Moscow.
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