Arms traders fumbled contact with Gaddafi

(Global Times)

09:14, September 09, 2011

Illustration: Liu Rui
With the assistance of the Libyan opposition, the Western media reported recently that China had sold weapons to deposed Libyan leader Muammar el-Gaddafi “until July." 

China’s foreign ministry firmly denied the rumor on Monday, claiming that the representatives of Gaddafi came to China and got touch with Chinese military trade companies in July, but no weapons were provided to Gaddafi. According to the ministry, the reports are just rumor without any facts or evidence. 

However, we should recognize that the military trade companies weren’t politically deft. 

In July, the Gaddafi regime was obviously reeling and the Chinese government had begun to have contact with the opposition. Even more important was that the UN announced a weapons embargo to Libya before the NATO bombing. After that there were no conditions under which China could have legitimately sold weapons to Gaddafi. 

We believe that the purpose of the contact between Chinese military trade companies and Gaddafi representatives was not to sell weapons. Chinese companies may have only meant to keep contact with Gaddafi and prepare for possible trade in the future, or perhaps the two sides only met to “have a chat." 

However, these companies should have known they represent China, a country that is paid close attention by the world, while Gaddafi was, by that stage, an international pariah. They should have realized that this would become an excuse for a smear campaign against China.
The State-owned military trade companies in China are more mysterious than even the rocket and fighter plane manufacturers. They stay in absolute secrecy, and the press cannot supervise them. Their trades are all legitimate business permitted by the national mechanisms of military trade management. Excessive secrecy provides unnecessary protection for them, meaning they are unfamiliar with the press and have little experience of being questioned. 

We don’t think that it is a big mistake for the companies. They just had a thoughtless touch with Gaddafi, which was used as an excuse to attack China by the Western countries. I suggest that Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs) should strengthen their ability to prevent this kind of carelessness. The departments supervising them should urge them to learn from the incident, and help them deal with a society that is full of exposed secrets. 

Cutting down on the secrets of military trade companies is an essential requirement for the prevention of rumors. The government should strictly examine whether these companies need the absolute secrecy they claim is necessary. 

Some of these companies should be normalized. Those companies that need absolute secrecy for national security reasons should be specially authorized, instead of the situation now where absolute secrecy for these companies is the norm.

China’s SOEs now have a bad image both in the domestic and foreign media, which doesn’t reflect their real contributions to China’s economy. I hope these companies can open up to the public. Those that dare to break the old norm will face fewer crises in the future. 

I believe that most rumors about SOEs in China are false. The best way for these companies to clear the rumors is to be open to the public.

The author is a commentator with the Chinese edition of the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn


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