Israel has cancelled a major arms deal with China after United States allegations that it misled Washington on the export of shared technology, it was reported on Sunday.
The US imposed a series of tough trade sanctions on Israel in protest at its deal to upgrade Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
American defence officials said Israel had claimed it was maintaining the drones when in fact it was upgrading them using technology the US did not want to fall into Chinese hands.
According to a report on Sunday in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered officials to travel to Washington to resolve the dispute.
Rachel Niedak Ashkenazi, a spokesperson for the ministry of defence, said a delegation left for Washington on Sunday.
It is understood that Israel has frozen the upgrade of the Chinese drones and has agreed to allow the US to examine its defence exports.
It is the country’s second dispute with Washington over arms sales to China. In 2000, Israel was forced to cancel a $1,8-bilion radar deal with Beijing at the request of the Americans. It was forced to pay substantial compensation and will probably do so again for breaching its contract.
The US is determined that no country with which it shares military technology should sell it on to Beijing. Washington fears that China’s modernisation of its armed forces might give it the confidence to attack Taiwan, which the mainland sees as a renegade province.
The dispute has not been public, although officials from both countries have admitted a crisis and expressed the hope that it be quickly resolved.
Among the sanctions imposed on Israel was its removal from the development of the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter, the joint programme in which Britain is a participant.
Israel hopes that by cancelling its China arms deal, the sanctions, which have been in place for six months, will be suspended.
In Washington, officials are expected to draft a memorandum of understanding on Israel’s arms sales. Defence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, said Israel would sign a memo granting the US the authority to veto arms sales to certain countries. – Guardian Unlimited Â