An Associated Press article late last month, "Pakistan: France confirms talks with Pakistan on high-tech systems for fighter developed with China" by Jamey Keaten on Feb. 26, states that the French state arms export agency, the Delegation Generale pour l'Armement (DGA), is preparing to sell the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) both the MICA air-to-air missiles made by MBDA and the Thales RC400 radar set.
They will be integrated onto the JF-17 fighter aircraft that the PAC is producing jointly with the Chengdu Aerospace Design Institute in China. Both nations intend to use the JF-17 in their air forces (in China the aircraft is designated the FC-1), as well as sell them to third nations.
The problem for Taipei is that the MBDA missiles and Thales radar are the same systems used on board the Taiwanese air force Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters. Pakistan will almost certainly (despite any denials to the contrary) share this technology with Chengdu.
This means Taiwan's Mirages will now be compromised and useless in defending the nation against an attack from China.
France is probably the leading advocate of strengthening the unity and Constitution of the EU, yet this resolve disappears when it comes to the issue of the EU's arms embargo against China. Whether you believe the embargo is the right or the wrong policy is not the issue. The fact is it is the law of the EU.
The previous government under former president Jacques Chirac made numerous attempts to have this embargo lifted.
For all that might have been dislikeable about Chirac, he was at least honest about his intentions in this matter.
The present French government seems determined to circumvent the embargo through the back door of selling the technology to Pakistan first and then pretend that the JF-17 program can suddenly and magically be made leakproof even though Islamabad has shared all that it knows with its Chinese partners in the past.
Furthermore, the Chinese may think the DGA is their friend in this situation, but this is not the case.
The French agency will sell this technology to Pakistan under the pretense that it can be kept out of Chengdu's hands. When the technology is compromised, the DGA will cry a lot of crocodile tears and try to place the blame for its duplicity on Beijing.
"Well, you know the Chinese -- they just cannot be trusted. Oh, woe are we that we were lied to in such a manner," is what it will say in a series of self-righteous denunciations of China.
It is just this kind of dishonest, trying-to-have-it-both-ways manner of doing business that has earned DGA the reputation it has today.
It is also hard to see what France gains by this transaction. Causing Taiwan's 60 Mirage 2000s and its 1,000-plus MICA missiles to become useless against the Chinese air force means essentially no more business for Dassault in Taiwan -- and basically surrenders this market to US weapons manufacturers.
US firms and Washington have without a doubt used unfair tactics and have pressured governments like South Korea and Singapore to buy US over French products in some rather intense competitions.
However, if France loses Taiwan as a market for its defense products it cannot blame nefarious US tactics or bullying by the White House. It will have no one to blame other than its own arms export administration.
Reuben Johnson
Defense correspondent, Russia/CIS, Central Europe and Latin America, Jane's Information Group,
Kiev, Ukraine
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
RSS