Subtitled: Made in China, Part Deux

This topic came up from listening to a National Public Radio (N.P.R.) broadcast. Amnesty International had made claims that fixed wing fighter aircraft were sold directly to one or more various military factions. The radiocast indicated that it was basing those claims from actual photographic evidence taken. Representatives of either or both Sudan and China claim this isn't actually the case. In which case it leads to someone doubtfully asking if they feel that Amnesty International is falsifying photos and human intelligence reports.

This is but one issue underlying the problems with China in regards to their stance on civil rights. More information is available at the following link: http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/chn-summary-eng


Personal Comments[:
I'm not inclined to believe that Amnesty International would make false claims just to bring more pressure against China or any other nation that is balking at making progress in civil rights. The Russian Federation is also doing so. This tends to lead those trying to instill change to thinking that it's the planned perpetration of violations which force them to oppose a newly created Human Rights Council within the United Nations.

There is the possibility that such aircraft could be produced in the neighbouring country of North Korea. Other nations are certainly capable of producing the more popular Chinese J-7 designs... like Pakistan, Iran and even Egypt. The reference link below even lists Sudan as a nation using the Chengdu J-7II series:
http://www.combataircraft.com/aircraft/ff7.aspx

Halting proliferation to countries more than willing to pay premium prices for the weaponry is hard to enforce. Especially for those countries in sore need of foreign sales for military equipment. China is forced to look outside of poorer Asian nations for customers ever since the European Union initiated an arms embargo against them in 1989.


Personal Conclusion:
While it is extremely difficult to verify the accuracy of statements and prove the level of injustice when claims of torture is done against persons, simply denying that military weapons are sold to irresponsible governments or splintering factions isn't going to make them more believable when attacking the authenticity of other issues. Proving that a country is using certain aircraft is far easier than suspected. While producing an invoice or shipping manifest might prove near impossible, learning what aircraft is used is all too easy. Then it becomes a case of narrowing down who it is out of the usual suspects.