Turkey cancels $3.4bn missile deal with China
ANTALYA: Turkey has cancelled a multi-billion-dollar deal with China to build its first anti-missile system that had alarmed Ankara’s allies in NATO, a Turkish official said yesterday. “The deal was cancelled,” the official from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office told AFP.
“One of the main reasons is that we will launch our own national missile project,” added the official. The news came as Turkey hosted key Western allies including US President Barack Obama but also Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the summit of G20 top economies in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya. Turkey entered negotiations in 2013 with the China Precision Machinery ExportImport Corporation (CPMIEC) to finalise a contract worth $3.4 billion (3 billion euros).
French-Italian consortium Eurosam and US-listed Raytheon Co had also submitted offers but the government had prioritised talks with the Chinese company, which raised serious concerns over the compatibility of CPMIEC’s systems with NATO missile defenses. NATO has said missile systems within the alliance must be compatible with each other while calling on Turkey to take this factor into account. Turkish government sources said an official announcement was expected next week. — AFP SEOUL: North Korea has declared a no-sail zone off its east coast in a sign it could be preparing a missile launch, Yonhap news agency reported yesterday. The warning covers all movement of ships from Nov. 11 to Dec. 7 for an area off the North’s central coast, the agency said, quoting an unnamed government source.
“We are observing closely whether North Korea will launch a Scud missile or a new model of ballistic missile because the area under the warning is quite vast,” a government source was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
The Scud is a short-range missile initially developed by the Soviet Union. South Korea’s defence ministry declined to confirm whether a no-sail warning had been issued. The prohibited area is near the eastern port city of Wonsan where leader Kim Jong Un’s family compounds are located, according to media reports. The North has previously declared a no-sail zone without launching a missile. The country is under UN sanctions for its previous ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests. — Reuters