Any military deal should be conducive to regional, int'l peaceful development: China

BEIJING: China on Monday declared that any military deal between the US and India should be conducive to the regional and international peaceful development.

“As long as the exchange between the two countries is conducive to regional and international peaceful development, we will not object them,” a spokesperson for Chinese foreign ministry, Lu Kang told reporters during his regular briefing while commenting on a possible deal of F-16 fighter jets between the US and India during the forthcoming visit of the US Defense Secretary to India.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis is scheduled to visit India this week and likely to seek to persuade India to buy Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Block 70 aircraft in a deal potentially worth $15 billion.

Lockheed Martin has offered the most upgraded version of the jet fighter to India, the world’s largest weapons importer.

Responding to a question about a referendum being held in Kurdish region of Iraq, he said the Chinese government supported the unity and sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Iraq.

“We hope various parties can find a feasible and viable plan and uphold unity, stability of Iraq,” adding, “This will be conducive to promoting counter-terrorism and peace efforts of the country as well as to efforts of upholding peace of regional countries and the international community as the whole.”