Monday, March 06, 2006

Israel To Start Arming China Again

Angry Chinese Blogger reports on this sad affair:

According to Yaakov Torren, the Director of the Defense Department, the reopening of the Sino-Israeli arms market won't be a free for all. Instead export permits will be issued on a case by case basis. With each potential sale being individually judged according to internal criteria decided upon by the state, rather than by a set of distinct 'self regulatory' guidelines.

This approach differs substantively from countries like Japan, where companies must apply for technology export permits themselves, based on a series of open guidelines governing so-called 'sensitive technology'. A situation which has lead to a number of embarrassing oversights in recent years where companies have exported good without first applying for permits to do so because they were not specifically named as being restricted.

At present, it is not clear if Israel's criteria will be fully open, or if they contain undisclosed cut-off clauses.

In addition to these announcements, made this Thursday, it was also stated that Tel Aviv is to set up a special oversight department to monitor and control permit issuances.

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