By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Trade between China and Peru, a key U.S. ally in the regional drug war, is at a new high. Now the Chinese defense industry is getting in on the action.
Trade between China and Peru, a key U.S. ally in the regional drug war, is at an all-time high. Now the Chinese security apparatus is getting in on the action, as military officials from Beijing increasingly are undermining U.S. arms deals in order to sell their own weapons to the resource-rich Andean nation.
He noted that, in Colombia, Chinese officials are working with their security counterparts to secure the release of Chinese oil workers kidnapped last June.
"This contract cancellation shows that the Chinese contractors are becoming more sophisticated players in the Latin America arms market," said R. Evan Ellis, an assistant professor at National Defense University in Washington. "They are applying tactics such as legal protests against winning bids, long used by sophisticated Western defense contractors in procurement battles over major weapon systems."
