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China brushes off US concerns over Israel arms

BEIJING: China said on Tuesday that US concerns about Israeli arms sales to the Chinese army would have no effect on Beijing's relations with Israel.

"The two sides have developed a relationship of friendship and cooperation in various areas which will not be affected by external factors," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told a news conference.

Sun otherwise sidestepped questions about Israeli arms sales to China, saying only that "military exchanges are a part of normal state-to-state relations".

US Defence Secretary William Cohen pressed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Monday to cancel plans to sell conventional and high technology weapons to China, including early warning AWACS planes.

Barak told Cohen, who was on a two-day visit to Israel on Sunday as part of a Middle East tour, that Israel would consider US opposition to the sales, but stopped short of promising they would not proceed.

Israel has sold weapons to China for more than a decade. But it has come under increasing pressure from the United States to cancel the deals, saying they may alter the delicate status quo between China and Taiwan.

Washington believes the arms sales to China make it more difficult to maintain support for Israel in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin is due to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week during the first visit to Israel by a Chinese head of state. -Reuters