In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has repeatedly boasted about the performance of domestically produced weapons, claiming they can rival those of the United States and Russia, while actively promoting arms exports. According to reports from South Korean media, the CCP has faced consecutive failures in three major arms exports since last year, despite the intervention of CCP leader Xi Jinping proving futile.
Despite Xi Jinping’s involvement, the CCP’s arms exports continue to suffer defeats. After failed attempts to export submarines to Thailand and fighter jets to Argentina, the CCP faced another setback in the Middle East regarding missile orders, with their “Fire Dragon 300” rocket artillery losing out to South Korea’s domestically produced Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile (KTSSM).
Initially, the CCP planned to export the “S26T” (also known as the 039 “Yuan-class”) diesel submarines worth $300 million to Thailand. However, due to EU sanctions on China, the installation of German-made engines in the submarines was hindered. The CCP later proposed to install similar Chinese-made diesel engines, but Thailand rejected the offer, leading to the cancellation of the contract in October last year.
With Argentina’s introduction of light fighter jets, the CCP put effort into exporting the JF-17 (Thunder Fighter) to the country. Xi Jinping promised then-President Alberto A. Fernández low prices and financial support, proposing to supply 34 JF-17 jets. However, after Javier Gerardo Milei was elected as President of Argentina in November last year, the situation changed dramatically.
Following Denmark’s acquisition of F-35 fighter jets and their decision to sell second-hand F-16 jets, Argentina ultimately chose to purchase F-16 jets from Denmark instead of the CCP’s JF-17 jets. On April 17th this year, a signing ceremony took place at a Danish airbase where Denmark sold 24 second-hand F-16 jets to Argentina for $300 million. Dissatisfied, the CCP could only complain that “the United States may be behind the scenes.”
The report mentions that the CCP’s Chengdu Aerospace Corporation jointly developed the JF-17 with Pakistan in 2003, which has competed with South Korea’s FA-50 in the international market. Yet, only Pakistan, Nigeria, and Myanmar have actually used this fighter jet.
In addition, in a recent battle for short-range ballistic missile orders in the Middle East earlier this year, China North Industries Group Corporation’s (Norinco) “Fire Dragon 300” rocket artillery was defeated by South Korea’s KTSSM, causing even more disappointment among some Chinese nationalists. Many took to social media to question why weapons from China, which are claimed to be comparable to those from the US and Russia, fell short in these deals.