More US Secret Tech to China via Israel

China has developed its own version of the Patriot anti-missile system, according to a Chinese-owned Hong Kong newspaper.

The ground-to-air guided missile system is part of China's air shield that is similar to U.S. Patriot missiles, the March 29 Wen Wei Po reported.

US officials confirm that:

China covertly obtained Patriot anti-missile system technology from Israel during the 1990s, according to U.S. officials.
U.S. intelligence agencies discovered the Israel-China Patriot technology transfer in March 1993.

The transfers came from U.S.-made Patriots sent to Israel to counter Iraqi missile attacks during the Persian Gulf war.

The report described the system's command and control system, vehicles and interceptors.

In 1993, then-CIA Director Robert Gates told The Washington Times, "There is some indication that they [the Chinese] have some of the technology."

This is not the first instance that Israel has illegally transferred US Secret technology to China. In the late 1980's, Saudi Arabia was discovered to have bought Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles from China. The US was outraged that the Saudis had made such a purchase without US knowledge, but the Saudis made the US Ambassador persona non grata and, subsequently, the US discovered that the Chinese ballistics had been acquired from Israeli sources who pirated the technology from American security assistance to the IDF.