September 14, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 1, 1428

PARIS, Sept 13: A respected defence publication has cautioned the French government against the sale to Pakistan of missiles and radar for a fighter plane that it is developing jointly with China, saying such a sale would carry a risk of the technology falling into Chinese hands, circumventing a European arms embargo on China.

Islamabad has been talking to Paris about getting air-to-air missiles from the MBDA company and radars from Thales for its JF-17 fighter, the magazine said.

Those missiles and similar radars also equip Taiwan’s French-built Mirage fighters, defences that could be compromised if Pakistan transfers the technology to China, according to Jane’s.

If Pakistan lets Chinese engineers look at the technology, then such a sale would also circumvent an EU ban on arms sales to China that has been in place since the Chinese military crackdown on protesters in 1989.

Experts say that embargo is increasingly porous and France has previously lobbied for it to be lifted.

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy, elected in May, has yet to say where he stands on the issue, but may do so when he visits China later this year, his spokesman David Martinon said on Thursday.

Jane’s cited unnamed Russian and Chinese sources as saying the French sale to Pakistan is ‘’likely’’ to go ahead.

Repeated calls over two days and e-mailed questions from The Associated Press to the office of French Prime Minister Francois Fillon went unanswered.

Asked about the report, France’s Defence Minister Herve Morin replied: ‘’To my knowledge, there is no arms embargo for Pakistan.’’

He noted that France has a system of controls on arms exports and referred further questions to the prime minister’s office.

Without confirming that talks with Pakistan are under way, defence ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire said: ‘’We have no reason not to cooperate with Pakistan on its leading projects.’’

He dismissed concerns of any possible technology leak to China, citing arms control measures that would be part of any such sale.

A spokesman for MBDA, Pierre Bayle, at first said: ‘’There is a competition to equip the Pakistani local-built fighter, this is an open competition. MBDA is in the competition, with other competitors’’ from the United States and South Africa.

But the next day, Bayle retracted that, saying he had been given inaccurate information and that there was no formal bidding process under way.

’’There might be preparatory discussions, there might be a market opening, we are always interested,’’ he said.

A spokesman for Thales, Markus Leutert, said: ‘’We are not commenting on any ongoing bids or unsigned contracts.’’

Alexander Neill, head of the Asia program at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in England, said he anticipated a ‘’quite vicious’’ reaction from the United States if France proceeds with a sale.

He said concerns that China could get its hands on the technology were ‘’valid.’’’’Pakistan is building a very solid relationship with China,’’ he said.

Jointly funded and developed by Pakistan and China since 1999, the JF-17 made its maiden flight in September 2003.

On a visit to the fighter’s Chinese manufacturer in February last year, President Pervez Musharraf hailed the project as ‘’a major leap forward’’ in China-Pakistan cooperation.

A chance to look at the French technology could allow China to counter it, possibly affecting the delicate military balance between China and Taiwan, said Paul Smyth, head of Aerospace Studies at the Royal United Services Institute.

’’If one side knows a lot about the technical capabilities of the other, and you know that because you’ve actually got your hands on a radar or a piece of avionics, or a missile seeker head or some other operationally significant piece of kit, then you are very well placed to dissect it, look at how it works, decide how best to counter it ... so there’s no doubt that having access to that would be significant,’’ he said.—AP