State Department officials noted that the Chinese weapon sales here are legal and are unlikely to be an issue in talks later this month between President Bush and Chinese leaders in Beijing. companies who sell jet fighters and other military equipment abroad. In effect, some analysts said, the competing Chinese companies are behaving much like rival private U.S. "You have got people in those factories that you have to keep working because you have to have to keep that capability in case of war." One expert on the Chinese military added that there are unconfirmed signs that the Chinese army, strapped for funds at a time when civilian projects have priority, may be attempting to increase revenues through sale of surplus rifles abroad. "Because of the fly-by-night operations, there has been a tendency to dump the firearms in the U.S." The retail price of such weapons, often dipping to about $300, "is so low it's ridiculous," said one arms dealer who has dealt with the Chinese but asked to not be identified. importer found buyers for them, Keng said. One Chinese supplier attempted to sell "factory rejects" and an opportunistic U.S. market in a new era of decentralized Chinese decision-making. (NORINCO), another major government arms manufacturer, as well as with smaller government entities for the U.S. of Riverdale, Ga., said Chinese government-owned companies such as his supplier, Poly Technologies Inc., are competing with China North Industries Corp. Shane Keng, vice president of Keng's Firearm Specialty Inc. 30, the bureau recorded 40,379 imported AK47s, at least 90 percent from China. By contrast, during a 14-month period ending last Nov. Tom Hill, a spokesman for the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said 8,131 AK47s were imported in the two years ending in 1986. Chinese eagerness for profits from one of their few products with a high-quality reputation in the United States, and their desire to keep potentially vital weapons plants in operation, have increased imported AK47 sales tenfold in the last four years and have led to calls for a ban on their sale in California and other states. drug and gang killings and in a California schoolyard massacre, are flooding the United States as a result of a new and unusual sales war among different agencies of the Chinese government, according to American China analysts and firearms dealers.
1 - Cheap, imported AK47 assault rifles, such as those used in U.S.