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Posted on: Feb. 17th, 2006 - english.ohmynews.com

When U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Co. won a bid last year to supply at least a dozen fighter jets to Singapore, its defeated French rival said America's superpower status had influenced the outcome.

"Bamboo always leans the way it's pushed the hardest," said Dassault Aviation, citing a Chinese proverb to argue that Washington's political muscle had swayed Singapore, a close U.S. ally. The setback echoed a bitter loss for Dassault in 2002 in South Korea, another staunch American ally that chose 40 F-15K fighter jets from Boeing over French Rafale combat aircraft.

Singapore, which hosts one of the world's biggest defense and aerospace conventions starting Monday, said its procurement process was rigorous and objective. But as a mega-deal for combat aircraft looms in India, the case recalled the murky mix of political, financial and military factors that often shapes major arms deals long after the Cold War.

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