CHINA HAS admitted that state-run arms companies met Libyan officials during the summer in the hope of selling arms to Col Gadafy’s besieged regime, apparently confirming information in Libyan government documents found by a Canadian journalist in Tripoli.
But a ministry spokeswoman denied that Chinese government officials knew of the talks and said that no arms were delivered to the Gadafy regime.
“Chinese companies have not signed any military or trade contracts with Libya, let alone provided military exports to Libya,” the spokeswoman, Zhang Qiyue, said.
“Relevant Chinese government departments with responsibilities over military exports will take this matter seriously,” she said.
Officials of Libya’s transitional government had expressed outrage over the documents. The records indicate that, during meetings in Beijing in mid-July, Chinese arms merchants sought to sell Gadafy representatives $200 million worth of sophisticated weapons.
The Chinese government abstained in March from the UN resolution that authorised “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians, the basis of Nato’s support for rebel forces. But China joined an earlier unanimous vote to approve UN resolution 1970, which banned military assistance to the Gadafy government. China normally opposes sanctions but said at the time that civilian casualties in the Libyan conflict merited the embargo.
“As far as I know, since the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1970, Chinese companies have not provided military equipment to Libya, directly or indirectly,” the spokeswoman said.
Whether the denials would satisfy the Libyan rebels was not clear. A Libyan military spokesman, Abdulrahman Busin, said the rebels “have hard evidence of deals going on between China and Gadafy,” as well as deals with other governments.
But the arms sale documents, found in a trash heap in a Tripoli neighbourhood, indicate only that negotiations took place and offer no hint as to their conclusion. – (Copyright 2011 New York Times News Service)