The news that officials of Moammar Gadhafi's regime held secret talks in Beijing to buy weapons in July — five months after the Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Libya — is deeply embarrassing for China and casts doubt on its sincerity regarding honoring United Nations sanctions resolutions for which it voted.
These talks may never have come to light were it not for incriminating documents discarded by members of the former Gadhafi regime and subsequently found in the trash.
They show that Gadhafi officials visited Beijing in July and met with representatives of three major state-owned armaments corporations — the China North Industries Corp., China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Co., and China Xinxing Import and Export Co.