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COLOMBIA PLANNING TO BUY CHINESE ARMS

Colombia planning to buy Chinese arms
Sunday, May 22, 2005 Posted: 1:46 PM EDT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombia's government plans to buy arms from China for its internal fight against leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and drug trafficking, President Alvaro Uribe said in an interview published Sunday.

"Colombia, due to terrorist threats, has to be constantly buying weapons in the international market," Colombia's leader told El Pais, the main newspaper in the southwest city of Cali. "Now we are asking the Chinese government to sell arms to the Colombian army."

Uribe did not provide details on the amount or type of weapons Colombia hopes to buy.

The arms purchase plan follows a dispute between Colombia and Venezuela that began a couple of months ago when Venezuela, led by leftist leader Hugo Chavez, said it planned to buy 100,000 assault rifles from Russia and other military hardware from Spain.

Colombia's defense minister said the purchases would create a "military imbalance" in the region, and suggested the guns might end up in the hands of illegal fighters in Colombia. U.S. officials also criticized the plan, saying Venezuela's actions could destabilize the region.

In the Sunday interview, Uribe sought to downplay the controversy of Venezuela's arms-buying plans, crediting his neighbor for announcing the plans to the public.

"The important thing is that arms negotiations be public, because public negotiation provides information and generates debate," said Uribe, a conservative leader and Washington's top ally in Latin America.

Colombia's 300,000-strong armed forces, including police, have been fighting leftist rebels for 41 years in a conflict that also includes outlawed, right-wing paramilitary fighters. The illegal groups finances themselves largely from drug trafficking and more than 3,000 people die in the fighting each year.

By viewpoint on May 22, 2005, 13:26 in Politics & the war.

juancegomez says on May 22, 2005, 15:16:

Well, all's fair in love and war. Don't see why Colombia can't buy weapons from China in order to at least slightly make up for Venezuela's Russian purchases.

In any case, it's too early to know if anything concrete will actually come out of this, like what weapons will be acquired, how many of them, etc.

I doubt that the purchase, if it actually happens, will be too large (considering, on the other hand, that Colombia is still getting/can still get plenty of U.S. made equipment at the same time).

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Tinto (Moderator) says on May 22, 2005, 15:24:

Tit for Tat Chinese trade people visit Colombia, Colombian trade people visit China. China says they will invest in the petroleum sector of Colombia, Colombia says they will buy Chinese weapons. Could be, but a lot of this talk never amounts to much.

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Mr. Hollywood says on May 22, 2005, 18:45:

There's a catch Since the Colombians have been using US weapons for a long time, there will be serious compatibility issues with anything they buy from the chinese. Given the logistics problems of this country it would be nuts to introduce a new caliber of ammunition and all those complications when the US seems happy to sell Colombia any guns they need.

I guess the purchases will be something else, like the tanks or planes that Colombia wants.

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