Analysts suggest that South Korea's advanced surface-to-air missile systems could impede China's efforts to export its own defense technology to the Middle East. This market shift is occurring amidst increased demand for defensive systems in the Persian Gulf region due to heightened regional tensions.

South Korea’s combat-proven, interoperable and geopolitically accessible surface-to-air missiles could hinder China’s efforts to sell its own defence systems to the Middle East, analysts have suggested. The US-Israel war on Iran has been marked by tit-for-tat missile and drone attacks across the Persian Gulf states, driving a surge in demand for surface-to-air missiles to defend against incoming Iranian aerial threats. According to a study by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a...