Should U.S. be worried about Chinese arms sales in the region?
To some degree, Chinese weapons are capturing market share from Russian systems in states that have traditionally been anti-U.S. as well as in other parts of the region. Indeed, the electronics in some Chinese systems and the quality of Chinese support in maintenance and spare parts is now considered better than that of comparable Russian systems.
Such sales also multiply opportunities for China to strengthen its military-to-military relationships with the region through the training of Latin American personnel on the Chinese systems, as well as creating a possible demand for an in-region People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military training and maintenance presence in the future…
ROBERT STEELE: A strong useful article. As I watch UNASUR (and in the wings, CELAC) displace the OAS, and as I watch Latin America finally confront predatory banks and multinational corporations, the question I have is this: when will China and perhaps Iran being to focus on peace technologies — helping Ecuador achieve free energy and unlimited water desalination, for example? In my view, UNASUR's new strategy begs for much more in the way of open source intelligence and multinational peace & reconstruction operations, and no one is offering solutions in those two area. I have posted a few thoughts with links here: http://phibetaiota.net/espanol/
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