Several years ago, the president of a major Chinese defense firm boasted that China's J-31 stealth fighter jet could easily defeat the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Lin Zuoming, president of Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), the state-owned Chinese defense company that manufactures the J-31, boldly declared on China's state broadcaster in 2014 that "When it (the J-31) takes to the sky, it could definitely take down the F-35." It's a foregone conclusion."
The J-31 is widely assumed to be based in part on stolen F-35 technology.
"Next-generation air forces that cannot afford the F-35 have no way to build themselves up. We don't believe the situation should be this way," Lin said, according to Reuters. "The world should be balanced," he added. Good things should not be concentrated in the hands of a single party."
