Arms deal with Israel none of US business: China
By Yossi Melman

BEIJING: China said Friday that no country has the right to interfere in its weapons deals with Israel. The response comes Ha’aretz published a report on Thursday, according to which Israel had complied with a United States request to Israel and suspended all contacts on the export of arms and security equipment to China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement Friday said that the security deals between Israel and China were a matter for those two countries alone.

“China has always considered that the development of normal commercial and military cooperation between China and Israel is a matter for these two countries, in which others do not have the right to interfere”, stated the communiqué.

The American request, which reached Israel three weeks ago, surprised senior Defense Ministry officials. But despite its qualms, Israel eventually decided to comply with the request. “This is simply a new American dictate, and we didn’t have any choice in the matter,” explained one Defense Ministry official....