US To Sell F-35 To India, China: Asia-Pacific Not A Game Arena

UNSPLASH/Arturo Alvarez ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Chinese government responded to the deal to sell F-35 fighter jets to India by the United States, saying the Asia Pacific region was not a geopolitical gaming arena.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Guo Jiakun confirmed that his country is not a "problem" in inter-state relations, or is trying to trigger block politics and confrontation.

"Asia-Pacific is a brilliant example of peace and development, not a geopolitical playing arena," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, February 15.

After meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump said his government would increase sales of military equipment to India from 2025, including F-35 fighter jets.

Sales of fighter jets such as the F-35 made byLockheed Martin include intergovernmental transactions in which the Pentagon acts as an intermediary between US defense contractors and other countries.

"United to form an exclusive group and engage in block politics and confrontation will not create security, and will not maintain Asian-Pacific and worldwide peace and stability at all," said Guo Jiakun.

Since 2008, India is said to have agreed to buy US defense products worth more than US$20 billion (around Rp324 trillion). Last year, India agreed to buy 31 MQ-9B SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian drones.

For decades, Russia has been a major arms supplier to India and Russian fighter jets are part of India's military fleet.

However, Russia's ability to export weapons in recent years has been hampered by the war in Ukraine, so India has shifted purchases to other countries.

The sale deal reflects India's increasingly close defense ties with the US and underscores the role of the Quadrlateral Security Dialogue (Quad), the alliance in the Indo-Pacific consisting of the US, India, Australia, and Japan.

Trump said India agreed to import more oil and gas from the US to reduce the trade deficit between the two countries.

He also said the two countries were working together to deal with "an threat of radical Islamic terrorism."