MR Gwynne's anger at arms sales by China (South China Morning Post, August 4) hardly makes any sense. He says the US has been guilty of being extremely haphazard in arms sales in the past. Little has changed. The US still sells arms with complete disregard for a country's record on democracy and basic human rights. The only criteria is the country's ability and willingness to further the United States' own national interests. Pakistan is used as a whipping boy for its outspoken support of the exploited in the developing world and its exposing of the double standards in the ''new world order''. The West is slipping back into the era of the Crusades with its avowed aim of destroying Islam. This is the common strain underlying its policies in Yugoslavia, the Middle East, the Commonwealth of Independent States, or the Indian sub-continent. I cannot understand the opposition to Pakistan having access to nuclear technology, since it has few substantial alternative sources of energy. New technology is an essential part of economic prosperity. K. MAHMOOD Causeway Bay