People Daily reported that Turkish Defense Minister Yilmaz announced on September 26 that Turkey decided to choose the Chinese "Red Flag" -9 air defense system as the next-generation long-range air defense system. The total contract amounts to US$3 billion. This choice caused a big stir [in Western society]. The U.S. immediately expressed "serious concern." Sun Zhe, a professor at Tsinghua University, said in an interview that Chinese military trade has achieved a qualitative leap and the West needs to adjust its mentality.
Some people believe that, as China is now able to sell the "Red Flag" -9 [missile], next it will be able to sell the F-10 [fighter aircarft]. In this regard, Sun Zhe said that we can see the trend in the trade of China’s military products. China has moved from the initial export of major military products only to Pakistan, and later to other countries. For example, it moved from Venezuela buying our small transport aircraft and the UAE purchasing our howitzer, to today’s Turkish intent to buy our Red Flag-9 anti-aircraft missiles. This shows the achievement of a qualitative leap. In this process, our military products are also improving along with the international rules. Western society may not be psychologically prepared for that yet. The West needs to adjust its mentality. China will become stronger. It will not just sell inferior goods. In the future it may even sell aircraft carrier technology to other countries.
Source: People’s Daily, October 10, 2013
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/1010/c1011-23148983.html