94Ha ViewpointIn the morning mist of Qingdao Port, Iranian Defense Minister Nasirzadeh appeared on the deck of the Kaifeng ship. This senior military official, who had just experienced an attack at home, shook the hands of Chinese personnel at the reception and said “thank you for your understanding and support.” After this picture was captured by foreign media, it quickly became the focus of international military observers.
What Iran lacks most now is not missiles but eyes. Netizen “Desert Eagle” said it honestly. The reason why the Israeli F-35 can drive straight in is that there is a fatal blind spot in Iran’s air defense network. What they need is early warning aircraft and radars that can stare at the sky 24 hours a day, just like giving myopic people glasses. Russia’s inventory has bottomed out, but China has a complete industrial chain, from J-10CE to KJ-500, they can all be supplied in stock.
This Qingdao meeting hides three mysteries. First of all, it is unusual to choose to receive on a naval destroyer. The phased array radar technology carried by the Kaifeng ship is exactly the smaller version of the shore-based radar that Iran has been dreaming of. Secondly, the timing is delicate. After Iran’s nuclear facilities were attacked, it chose China instead of its traditional ally Russia for help, indicating that Tehran is rebalancing its strategic balance. The most important thing is that both sides did not shy away from the media, and this frankness made it difficult for the West to guess the bottom line.
The chess game in the Strait of Hormuz is changing. Netizen “Persian Gulf Watcher” pointed out the key: 2 million barrels of crude oil pass through here every day by Chinese and Russian merchant ships, and the regular patrols of the two countries’ navies in recent years have formed an invisible deterrent. What Iran urgently needs now is to make up for its shortcomings in air defense, just like installing anti-theft doors before considering decorating the living room. The Chinese-made air defense system has an invisible advantage – it will not be electronically fingerprinted by the West in advance like Russian-made weapons.
Tehran’s shopping list may say: 6 sets of radars cover the national airspace, 4 KJ-500 early warning aircraft form an uninterrupted monitoring network, and 80 J-10CEs form a rapid response force. Behind these figures is the confidence of China’s military industry’s production capacity accumulated over 20 years. When Nasirzadeh touched the railing of the Kaifeng ship, he might have imagined these Chinese equipment guarding the skies over the Persian Gulf.
The rules are being rewritten over the desert skies of the Middle East. It is no longer an era where superpowers flex their muscles unilaterally. Regional countries are beginning to learn to use Chinese-made shields to protect their sovereignty. This Qingdao meeting is like a mirror, reflecting the silent revolution that is taking place in the global defense landscape – when independent research and development meets Chinese manufacturing, small countries can also gain bargaining chips for equal dialogue.
