The U.S obsession with China threat and its increased efforts to fight China’s involvement in different sectors of countries may not only cost it friends and allies but also money like we have seen after the United Arab Emirates suspended the 23 billion dollar deal to purchase American-made F-35 planes, armed drones and other equipment.
The statement released by the Emirate Embassy in Washington said it would “suspend discussions” with the U.S, though meetings at the Pentagon this week between the two sides on other matters will be held as planned.” The U.S remains the UAE’s preferred provider for advanced defense requirements and discussions for the F-35 may be re-opened in the future”.
The proposed sale of 50 F-35s to the UAE came at the end of former President Donald Trump’s administration emerging from a deal that saw the Emiratis formally recognize Isreal but after president Joe Biden entered office, the deal was put on hold due to increased pressure from activists about UAE’s war crimes in the ongoing war in Yemen which has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crises which continues up today.
One of the disagreements is the restrictions being put on UAE on how and where the F-35s could be used with increased fear by the Americans that those advanced fighter jets may one day be used against Israel which is a U.S satellite country in the middle east used by the Americans to control the region.
This can be confirmed by the statement made by U.S secretary of state Blinken on his visit to Malaysia where he said that ” the U.S is prepared to move forward with the sales if the Emiratis decide to do so but the U.S wanted to make sure, for example, that our commitment to Israel’s qualitative military edge is ensured, so we wanted to make sure that we could do a thorough review of any technologies that are sold or transferred to other partners in the region, including the UAE “.
Another issue where UAE is having disagreements with the U.S is on sovereignty as UAE is opposed to American interference with its relations with China especially in the field of 5G technology which is being provided by a Chinese company called HUAWEI accused by the U.S of spying for the Chinese government without any evidence.
The U.S says that putting its most advanced fighter jet near the Chinese 5G network is dangerous as it may be used to spy on the fighter jet for the Chinese military which I see as an excuse to drive out HUAWEI from providing 5G network in the middle east especially UAE.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that U.S requirements on the use of American-made military equipment are universal, non-negotiable, and not specific to the UAE.
The above statement indicates that the U.S gave permission to both UAE and Saudi Arabia to use U.S made weapons in the ongoing war in Yemen which has killed tens of thousands of innocent people, displaced millions more from their homes, and created hanger in the country causing the biggest humanitarian crisis the world has ever seen since world war II.
Recently, UAE stopped the construction of a Chinese facility at Abu Dhabi port that U.S considered a military base even though UAE denied reports that China was constructing a military base.” we took these American concerns into consideration and we stooped the work on facilities”, Anwar Gargash to a meeting of Arab Gulf State Institute in Washington.
The suspension of the 23 billion dollar deal comes a day after UAE agreed to buy a record 80 Rafale warplanes from France for 15.8 billion dollars during a visit by President Emmanuel Macron of France which indicated the UAE has alternative arms supply apart from the U.S but the problem is that those Rafale Fighter jets don’t come near to being as advanced as F-35s which are stealthy and are fifth-generation jets.
The 23 – 37 billion dollar package contained products from General Atomics, Lockheed Martians, and Raytheon Technologies, including 50 F-35 Lightning II aircraft, up to 18 MQ-9B unmanned aerial systems, and a package of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions.
After the U.S forced Australia to choose between security and economic gains, it now UAE’s turn as the U.S wants to force UAE to cut ties with China which is kind of impossible due to strong dependence on China for investment and trade by the UAE but can be done in a painful way.
