Chinese companies have not provided Libya with any “military products”, China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday, after reports of Beijing offering weapons to the ousted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Sunday that Beijing offered huge stockpiles of weapons to Kadhafi during the final months of his regime and held secret talks on shipping them through Algeria and South Africa.
“Chinese companies have not provided military products to Libya in any direct or indirect form,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists.
The Canadian daily said state-controlled Chinese arms companies were ready to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million to Kadhafi in late July, despite UN sanctions, citing secret documents it had obtained.
The documents, published on the paper’s website, do not confirm whether any military assistance was delivered.
They showed that Kadhafis top security aides made a trip to Beijing in mid-July, where they met officials from China North Industries Corp. (Norinco); the China National Precision Machinery Import & Export Corp. (CPMIC); and China XinXing Import & Export Corp.
The Chinese companies offered the entire contents of their stockpiles for sale, and promised to manufacture more supplies if necessary, The Globe and Mail said.
