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
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry gives it a strategic advantage, but that advantage would be threatened as the US seeks to end Taiwan’s monopoly in the industry and as China grows more assertive, analysts said at a security dialogue last week. While the semiconductor industry is Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” its dominance has been seen by some in the US as “a monopoly,” South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University academic Kwon Seok-joon said at an event held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In addition, Taiwan lacks sufficient energy sources and is vulnerable to natural disasters and geopolitical threats from China, he said.
After reading the article by Hideki Nagayama [English version on same page] published in the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Wednesday, I decided to write this article in hopes of ever so slightly easing my depression. In August, I visited the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan, to attend a seminar. While there, I had the chance to look at the museum’s collections. I felt extreme annoyance at seeing that the museum had classified Taiwanese indigenous peoples as part of China’s ethnic minorities. I kept thinking about how I could make this known, but after returning
What value does the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hold in Taiwan? One might say that it is to defend — or at the very least, maintain — truly “blue” qualities. To be truly “blue” — without impurities, rejecting any “red” influence — is to uphold the ideology consistent with that on which the Republic of China (ROC) was established. The KMT would likely not object to this notion. However, if the current generation of KMT political elites do not understand what it means to be “blue” — or even light blue — their knowledge and bravery are far too lacking
Taipei’s population is estimated to drop below 2.5 million by the end of this month — the only city among the nation’s six special municipalities that has more people moving out than moving in this year. A city that is classified as a special municipality can have three deputy mayors if it has a population of more than 2.5 million people, Article 55 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) states. To counter the capital’s shrinking population, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) held a cross-departmental population policy committee meeting on Wednesday last week to discuss possible solutions. According to Taipei City Government data, Taipei’s