As tensions in West Asia and Ukraine rose in recent years, Turkey moved to jointly manufacture a sophisticated missile defence system. The $3.4 billion plan would have given Turkey's military more firepower and laid the foundation to start exporting missiles.
But, Turkey abruptly abandoned the plan just weeks ago in the face of strong opposition from its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Their main objection: Turkey's partner, a state-backed Chinese company. Western countries feared a loss of military secrets if Chinese technology were incorporated into Turkey's air defenses. As one of its highest economic and foreign policy goals, China has laid out an extensive vision for close relations with Turkey and dozens of countries that were loosely connected along the silk road more than 1,000 years ago by land and seaborne trade.
Beijing's effort to revive ancient trade routes, a plan known as the Belt and Road Initiative, is causing geopolitical strains, with countries increasingly worried about becoming too dependent on China.
Kazakhstan has limited Chinese investment and immigration for fear of being overwhelmed. Kyrgyzstan has pursued warmer relations with Moscow as a balance to Beijing.
With the missile deal, Turkey was turning toward China partly to reduce its reliance on NATO. "Our national interest and NATO's may not be the same for some actions," said Ismail Demir, Turkey's under secretary for national defense. But the deal immediately raised red flags in the West.
Besides the technology issues, the Chinese supplier, the China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation, was the target of Western sanctions for providing ballistic missile technology to Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria. So, Turkish exports based on a partnership with China National Precision could have also been subject to sanctions.
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Complicating matters, China and Russia are close allies on many issues. Russia is especially distrusted in Turkey because of its military intervention in Syria and its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. And, Turkey had been a close American ally ever since it sent a large contingent of troops to fight North Korea and China during the Korean War.
The Chinese missile project "was one of the things that really made people say 'Turkey is shifting, wow,'" said Mehmet Soylemez, an Asian studies specialist at the Institute for Social and Political Researches, an independent research group in Ankara. "China wants to remake the global financial and economic structure."
With its wealth and markets, China is a tantalising partner.
Many countries along the former silk road are frustrated by the difficulty of developing closer economic ties to the European Union. And they are alarmed that the American-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major regional trade deal, could give an edge to Malaysia and Vietnam.
"So many years we have been kept waiting at the edge of the EU, and people are losing hope," said Sahin Saylik, general manager of Kirpart Otomotiv, a large Turkish auto parts manufacturer. "Turkey is not in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and problems in the Arab world are pushing Turkey to have other alternatives."
The relationship with China is lopsided. Turkey imports $25 billion a year worth of goods from China, while exporting only $3 billion there.
© 2015 The New York Times News Service
