The United Arab Emirates just reminded the United States why it must reassess its sale of F-35 strike fighter jets to that nation.
Votes are pending on congressional resolutions that would prevent the F-35 sale from occurring. Members of Congress should seek clarification from the UAE on one major concern before deciding which way to vote. Namely, whether the UAE is determined to advance its strategic partnership with China. If the UAE’s answer is affirmative, Congress should block the F-35 sale. If, however, the UAE agrees to isolate China from its security, capital investment, and high technology industries, the sale should be approved.
But one way or another, urgent clarity is required.
The reminder came via an article from the UAE’s ambassador to Beijing on Wednesday. Published in the top Chinese state media outlet, People’s Daily, Ali Zhahiri appeared to make clear that the UAE is determined to reinforce its relations with China. Zahiri observed that the UAE was enjoying a “golden age of relations between the two countries” and welcomed the 2018 upgrading of relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.” Noting that “the two sides have expanded their cooperation” in a number of areas, including “technological innovation,” the ambassador added that “more than 6,000 Chinese companies have invested or conducted business in the UAE.” Zahiri concluded, “The UAE will join hands with China to continue to deepen cooperation and make active efforts around the Belt and Road Initiative to realize the common prosperity of the two countries.”
Let’s be clear. From an American interest point of view, Zahiri’s comments are fundamentally incompatible with the UAE’s possession of F-35 fighter jets. As much as it might be worth many billions of dollars to Lockheed Martin and the U.S. economy, Zahiri’s words make clear that any F-35 sale will almost inevitably mean China’s gaining of access to the F-35’s specifications, flight performance analysis, strike capabilities, and defensive vulnerabilities. Things, that is to say, which will enable the People’s Liberation Army to better target and kill U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Naval aviators in any future conflict. Considering the risk of such a conflict occurring, this is not a concern that any American politician should tolerate.
Don’t misunderstand me, the UAE is rightly regarded as an American ally. Unlike Qatar, this Sunni-Arab nation is an excellent counter-terrorism partner that has shown true courage in ending decades of hostility with Israel. The UAE also has the sovereign right to deal with whichever nation it pleases.
But so also does the United States have the responsibility to protect its critical interests. And there’s a reason the weblink to Zahiri’s article was gleefully quote tweeted by China’s anti-American diplomat in chief, Zhao Lijian. Zhao and his masters know that Zahiri’s words portend a major challenge to the United States.
But why should the F-35 issue strike such significant concern?
For one, China’s business engagement around the world is centered on absolute obedience to Xi Jinping’s political interests. That means Chinese businesses in the UAE, as elsewhere, will be heavily populated by intelligence agents and officers from the Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army. For the UAE to so happily pledge its support for the Belt and Road initiative makes this even more likely. After all, that initiative is not, as Xi claims, a “win-win” recipe for shared global prosperity. It is an economic tool designed to extract political submission from the world in return for Xi’s investments. And it has been a highly successful tool at that, earning favor from even the closest American allies such as Britain and France. Yet, those allies are now moving to restrict China’s access to the most security-critical areas of their economies. They are doing so because they have realized, as the UAE should, that China is not the friend it pretends to be. At best it is an economic partner requiring very careful attention. At worst, it is an enemy of everything that the post-Second World War international order stands for.
The UAE deserves Washington’s offer of a simple choice: the F-35 or the China strategic partnership. It cannot have both.
