By Sanxuan

With Western countries such as Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom announcing recognition of the State of Palestine, Israel expressed a firm rejection, causing the previously stable Middle East situation to become turbulent again. As the elder brother of the Arab world, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense agreement with Pakistan, indirectly connecting with China. On the other side of the Gaza Strip, Egypt openly deployed two sets of HQ-9B air defense systems secretly purchased from China directly to the front line of the Sinai Peninsula, which is adjacent to Israel and Egypt.

China's Hongqi-9B Air Defense System

American weapons are unreliable

The matter of Egypt purchasing the HQ-9B has its roots in an intriguing news report in May this year. It was said that at that time, an Ilyushin-76 transport aircraft of the Egyptian military flew to China, stayed for some time, and then left. Obviously, it was carrying cargo. Both the Chinese and Egyptian sides did not make any comments when questioned, until July, when retired Egyptian general Samir Farag mentioned in a television interview that the Chinese-made HQ-9BE long-range air defense system had been officially equipped.

The news caused shock from both the US and Russia. Although Egypt does not have much presence on the military power list, for many years, it has always been a big customer of American and Russian arms manufacturers. In the case where the US can provide "Patriot" and Russia can sell "S-300," Egypt still chose to buy air defense weapons from China, indicating that major changes are taking place in the military and political game in the Middle East, which the US and Russia are no longer able to intervene in.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Why didn't Egypt go to the US or Russia to buy weapons? The reason is simple. First, Russia is currently at war, and its military production capacity is being used for Ukraine, so even if they wanted to buy, they couldn't. Second, for many years, the US has refused to sell advanced weapons to Egypt in order to ensure Israel's military superiority over Egypt. For example, although Egypt has a large number of F-16 fighter jets, they cannot purchase the best medium-range air-to-air missiles from the US. In the event of an encounter with Israel's F-35, they would only be at a disadvantage.

Chinese equipment ensures safety

The US's favoritism toward Israel has never been concealed. After Trump came into power, it became even more extreme. Although since Sadat in the 1970s, the Egyptian government has maintained good relations with the US, in matters of national defense security, Egypt still dare not be careless. Recently, when the Israeli Air Force attacked Doha, the capital of Qatar, it was a typical case. We still don't know why the Qatari purchased a lot of American weapons, but they failed to respond at all.

Some insiders revealed that this is the "back door" that Americans have opened for Israel. Compared to that, the reliability of Chinese weapons is well known. Previously, during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, besides the outstanding performance of the J-10C, the HQ-9 air defense system also played a significant role. Considering the time when Egypt's transport plane went to China, maybe they made the decision after the Indo-Pakistani conflict.

China's K-8 Trainer Aircraft Production Line Sold to Egypt

What is the performance of the HQ-9B air defense system like? A more official answer is that compared to the US's "Patriot" and Russia's S-400, there are advantages and disadvantages, but even if the performance of the three air defense systems is comparable, the price of Chinese weapons is cheaper, and there are no political conditions attached to the arms sales agreements. A few years ago, we sold the entire K-8 trainer aircraft production line to Egypt, and the two countries have been old friends in the arms sales field.

The turning point in the Middle East

When the HQ-9B air defense system appears on the Sinai Peninsula, Israel's aerial advantage will be significantly reduced. Not to mention anything else, even the most advanced F-35 fighter jet of the Israeli military cannot escape the radar tracking of the HQ-9B. Of course, we are not saying that Egypt and Israel have reached the point of inevitable war. This is more like Egypt reminding Israel not to provoke incidents by deploying Chinese weapons.

More Middle Eastern countries will choose to cooperate with China

We have reason to believe that after this, more Middle Eastern countries will turn their eyes towards China, either directly purchasing Chinese weapons, or, like Saudi Arabia, indirectly entrusting their own security to China. These Middle Eastern emirs may not be good at fighting, but they have great talent in choosing sides. When they abandoned the Soviet Union and chose to follow the US, they enjoyed decades of stability. Now that the US is no longer reliable, they naturally seek the next leader of the world order for the next 80 years.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7552825730460172827/

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