From: sehari@iastate.edu (Babak Sehari)
Subject: FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS REPORTEDLY BOOSTING ARMS SALES TO ASIA
Originator: sehari@class1.iastate.edu
Organization: Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 22:36:40 GMT

=START=   XMT: 13:02 Wed Nov 11  EXP: 13:00 Thu Nov 12

UPDATE: FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS REPORTEDLY BOOSTING ARMS SALES TO ASIA 

TOKYO (NOV. 11) DPA - Former Soviet republics are stepping up arms sales to a
large number of Asian nations, spawning a weapons market in the Orient which
has already eclipsed that of the Middle East. 

According to the 1992 report of the Stockholm-based International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI), global arms trade has dropped 25 per cent this year
from 1991 to a total 22.1 billion dollars. 

In Asia, however, sales have expanded, accounting for a whopping 34 per cent of
the global total, even surpassing the 21 per cent slice of the pie for Middle
East nations, the report said. 

During five years to 1990, India became the top weapons buyer in Asia with
purchases amounting to 169.89 billion dollars, followed by Japan with 109.71
billion dollars and Afghanistan with 57.4 billion dollars, said the report. 

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted British military intelligence sources as
saying Russia and Ukraine are offering dumping sales prices of just 15,000
dollars for the ageing MiG 21 fighter and 30,000 dollars for a new T-72 tank. 

Russia's main markets for weapons are China, Taiwan, India, South Korea and
North Korea, said the newspaper. Russia, main inheritor of the Soviet Union's
war machine, recently agreed to sell sophisticated jet fighters to China and
submarines to Iran. 

The United States has recently decided to sell F-16 fighters to Taiwan and
Saudi Arabia. France is eager to sell more fighters to Taiwan. Germany is said
to be hawking surplus weapons made in the former East Germany. 

China is the most militarily powerful in Asia, followed by India, Japan,
Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. China has 4,970 army planes and 56 main
battle ships, followed by India's 630 and 28 and Japan's 422 and 66, according
to a military balance report. 

China is particularly at the forefront of naval forces' buildup and
modernisation, having made an increasing number of announcements pertaining to
its territorial waters, resources and sea lanes around Truong Sa Islands or the
Spratlys in South China Sea. 

The Asian Communist nation plans to build nuclear-powered submarines and
aircraft carriers by the year 2050. It is also reportedly interested in buying
almost-completed aircraft carriers from Ukraine. 

The narrow strait separating China from Taiwan has recently been the scene of
renewed military activities. After the U.S. decision to provide F-16s to
Taiwan, China responded by stationing SU-27 fighters bought from Russia on the
Fujian coast opposite Taiwan. 

Taiwan, now China's main military threat, plans to build its own highly
advanced frigates equipped with missiles to make good use of its ample foreign
currency reserves. 

South Korea will probably shift its emphasis from reinforcement of ground
forces to a naval buildup if tension further eases on the Korean peninsula and
the threat from North Korea diminishes, according to military analysts. 

India has reportedly recently formulated a naval modernization programme
calling for replacement of its two aircraft carriers with advanced ones. 

It also plans to construct a new naval base in the Nicobar Islands on the
eastern edge of the Indian Ocean in an apparent move to block China's expansion
into the region. 

Meanwhile, fear of a resurgence of Japanese militarism remains strong among
Southeast Asian countries, according to an opinion poll by the Tokyo Foreign
Ministry. 

Foreign Ministry officials say the poll findings were affected by Japan's
decision to dispatch its military forces overseas for the first time in the
postwar period for a U.N.-led peacekeeping mission in Cambodia. 

Japanese Defense Forces have 240,000 men, and 280 F-15 and F-4 fighters among a
total 422 aircraft, 59 warships and 15 submarines, according to the Defense
Agency. 



=END= 

--