BEIJING : There is no military alliance between China and Pakistan, butChina’s arms exports to Pakistan are a powerful weapon to safeguard theSouth Asian country’s military sovereignty, says a report published in theChinese official daily, the Global Times on Saturday.
Pakistan has been shunning the US in favor of Chinese high-technologyweapons, the Financial Times reported earlier this week. Since 2010, USarms exports to Pakistan plummeted from $1 billion to just $21 million lastyear, according to the report, while China has become Pakistan’s mostconsistent supplier of military hardware.
It is Pakistan’s full right to choose who to buy from in the global armsmarket, which has long been dominated by the US.
Washington always imposes conditions such as political criteria andstrategic arrangement for its economic aid.
Military assistance works the same way. One of the US’ principles in armsexports is targeting turbulent regions and supporting its allies in thoseareas through defense exports to maximize US national interests.
According to Reuters, the US said January it was suspending at least $900million in security assistance to Pakistan until it takes action againstthe Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network militant groups. With itsmilitary assistance, the US aims to force Pakistan to act according to ascenario written by Washington. Onerous conditions imposed with militaryaid and arms exports to a certain degree harm Pakistan’s militarysovereignty.
It is normal to see Pakistan making efforts to diversify the sources of itsarms imports. That’s where China comes in. Although China’s overallstrength in military technology still lags behind that of the US, thecountry’s defense products have emerged in the world’s arms market with ahigh performance-to-price ratio.
China’s rising profile in this field gives options to arms importers likePakistan, breaking the Western hegemony in military sales.
As for China’s arms exports, the government has always taken a prudent andresponsible attitude to carry out strict management in accordance withrelevant UN Security Council resolutions and Chinese laws.
China’s arms exports will be conductive to enhancing recipient countries’capability of legitimate self-defense.
The Chinese government imposes no political conditions in the arms trade.Beijing doesn’t allow its arms exports to disturb regional peace, but italso has no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of therecipient countries. What lies behind the increasing interest of Pakistanin working with China in arms trade is its intention of safeguarding thecountry’s military sovereignty.
China’s arms exports to Pakistan will not lead to a military alliance;instead, they will strengthen the South Asian country’s militarysovereignty, the report added.