Posted on 12/18/2005 9:59:28 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Rosoboronexport, the state military export company, sealed a $500 million contract to supply China with jet engines of Moscow-based Salyut engineering plant. The engines will be installed on Russian Su-27SKM fighters assembled in China under the Russian license.
The contract of Rosoboronexport and China stipulates for deliveries of 150 engines of the AL-31F model developed for the Su-27/Su-30 jet series. The engines will be used for the assembling of Su-27SK fighters at a plant in Shenyang.
This is the third contract of Salyut on engines supply to China this year. Late June, the state arms export company signed a contract with Beijing to deliver 100 AL-31FN engines within 2 years for J-10, or Super-10, light fighters. The deal was $350 million worth.
Experts estimate China’s need in AL-31FN engines at 250 items, which may bring Russia some $900 million. To all appearances, after China gets the first lot of 100 engines, it will sign a new agreement with Rosoboronexport.
interesting
Punching out flares.
Is this another "benefit" we Americans are receiving from our increased trading with China? An ever-increasing nuclear capability, a massive military and a super-power economic status are what they're gaining from trade with America. We get cheap dish towles at WalMart in return.
The Chinese export roughly five times what they import from the U.S., and this is not good. Most economists agree that our massive trade deficit with China will likely continue for years. We are now so dependent on Chinese suppliers that it's impossible for us to implement any 'protectionist' trade policies without making our cost to trade with China even higher. The days of America being the 'knowledge economy' and China being the 'sweatshop economy' are long gone, they are catching up to, or surpassing us, in every category of economics.
Why we continue to trade with China is a mystifying question. They benefit a lot, we benefit a little; and economic projections see this situation continuing and increasing in China's favor every year. So you thought you were paying cheaper prices from trading with China? Think again, the price is going to be higher than anyone imagined one day.
To understand, let's say you buy a $1,000 IBM laptop from Lenova, which now makes and sells "IBM" laptops. In fact, China imports $900 of chips and motherboards from Japan and Korea, assembles it with cheap labor, and sells it to you for $1,000.
How does this show up in the trade statistics? U.S. $1,000 deficit with China, China with $900 deficit with Korea/Japan. See the problem?
Most of our "deficit" with China is, in reality, a deficit with Korea/Japan.
Policy implications: If we impose protectionist policies against China, Korea and Japan simply ship their high-value exports to India or Sri Lanka or some other country for assembly; our trade deficit with China plummets and our deficit with unnamed other third world country skyrockets.
Oh, and one more thing. That vaunted GDP growth in China? Guess where the statistics come from? Chinese government. Sustainable? No. Believable? No. Propaganda? Yes.
Their spy programs and military programs are, however, very real. The rate at which their military is advancing (often with stolen US technology) will make them a formidable threat. China currently has a relatively small air force and almost no real navy to speak of. When it gets those, it will be capable of projecting its power beyond its borders and thats potentially destabilizing.
Our trade deficit with Japan is also huge, so your example of China having a trade deficit with Japan doesn't stand. There is either naivite in your statements or you're a pure apologist for this present government. World trade is all about globalization, without concern for a 200 billion dollar trade deficit with China alone.
China's economy is indeed growing in leaps and bounds, as they overtake us in category after category, now including technology. The U.S. needs to increase production and manufacturing to reduce this dependency on China. This would also increase the tax base and help get our own government out of debt. Right now the dollar is threatened by this huge trade deficit, to the point where S. Korea announced (last summer) that they are going to seek other currencies, (beside the US dollar), to steady their currency invenstments.
But the most important factor in trade with China is not necessarily the lopsided trade, it's the moral implications of trading with a ruthless Communist giant that forces abortions on its women and severely oppresses the Christian religion. As China's military grows in numbers, technology and overall potency due largely to American trade, we are beginning to see the chickens come home to roost. How long before China starts importing its culture to us?
I don't understand your logic. I agree that we have a big trade deficit with Japan. I was simply pointing out that it is much larger than statistics show, while our deficit with China is much smaller. How does that invalidate my statment? You seem consumed with fear of "globalization" without any rationality. So you try to change the subject. You provide no evidence about China "overtaking us in category after cagetory, now including technology". As someone who works in this field professionally, I question the statistics that we rely upon, which are provided by the Chinese government. As for the dollar being "threatened", I simply ask you to explain why it is appreciating. But, of course, you cannot, can you?
I do not dispute the threat; I totally agree with it. I simply make the point that the press's take on their progress thus far is totally overblown.
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