China targets Cuba, Argentina to boost military ties

HONG KONG, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Most of China's dealings with Latin American countries are motivated by its pursuit of oil and other resources.

This is only partly true in the case of Cuba, however. The country has unique political, strategic and intelligence value for China. Interestingly, China's military contacts with Cuba bear the secretive characteristics of Soviet-Cuban engagement in the 1960s.

In 2006 the commander of China's People's Liberation Army Second Artillery Corps visited Cuba. His message to the United States was a softer version of the one that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev intended to send when he attempted to put nuclear missiles therein 1962 -- Cuba is not the backyard of the United States.

Since China's current strategy is to reduce friction with the United States, it is unlikely to export missile technologies to Cuba. But should the situation in the Taiwan Strait deteriorate to where China is ready to take military action, it is possible that Beijing may attempt to deter U.S. intervention by playing the Cuban missile card.

On a visit to Cuba in 2000, this author was surprised to find the country's economy already dominated by Chinese goods. From trains and bicycles to household goods, almost everything was made in China. China is Cuba's second-largest trading partner, and total trade between the two countries in 2006 was $1.8 billion.

In 2001 the People's Liberation Army's Chief of General Staff Gen. Fu Quanyou visited Cuba and signed a memorandum of understanding on military cooperation with Cuba. In recent years, exchanges between the top leadership of the Chinese and Cuban militaries have been very frequent.

Regional intelligence analysts believe that these moves are evidence of close intelligence cooperation between the two countries. Cuba has acquired communications and telephone production technologies from China; almost all of Cuba's telephones are made in China. The possibility cannot be excluded that the Third Department of the People's Liberation Army Headquarters of General Staff has established a secret communications monitoring base in Cuba.

In addition, the political commissar of China's National Defense University, Zhao Keming, headed a Chinese military delegation to Cuba in 2006, indicating that China has been helping Cuba to train military commanders. In 2007, China's then-Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan once again appeared in Havana.

All these activities suggest active military exchanges between China and Cuba. Yet so far there is no indication that China has shipped to Cuba intact ground forces, navy or air force systems.

China also has a keen interest in Cuba's natural resources, especially nickel. The Chinese military industry has a huge demand for stainless steel but does not have sufficient nickel for the production process. China's eyes have turned to Cuba, which has the world's second-largest nickel reserves.

Further south, Chile is a key transfer station for Chinese military weapons in South America. Chinese ammunition enterprises regularly attend the Santiago Air Show every two years. In recent years China has been using this air show to promote to South American countries a series of weapons systems, including A-100 rocket guns, a variety of satellites and launch vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, P-12 SSMs and other weapons systems.

A source from the Chilean air force confirmed to United Press International that in the course of purchasing A-50 AWAC aircraft, China sent high-level military officers to visit Chile and study its Israeli-made early warning radar systems.

--

(Part 2: Beijing courts Argentina)

--

(Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)