英文摘要 |
The European Union (EU) established an arms embargo on China since 1989. France for years encouraged a lifting on the embargo and this is often interpreted with interests other than arms sale. Lifting the embargo is not for arms sales but to improve the Sino-Franco relations. In contrast, efforts to lift the embargo gathered much opposition from the French public because of the concern of Franco-US relations and human rights stance, which would be jeopardized when French arms crowd into China. The essay analyzes the persisting character in French arms transfer, the EU Arms Embargo regulations, the French arms transfer to China after 1989, and China's recent foreign arms procurements from Russia. This could explain the origins of the opposition from French public. However, from a prospect of supply and demand, the essay argues that, French arms not only have difficulties to operate with the existing Russian equipment in Chinese inventory, but also suffer from high-price, limited merit in performances, technology protection, and the strong competition form the Chinese indigenous defense products with considerable improvements in quality. In other words, even if EU lifted the arms embargo, French arms are not advantageous in China. Interests other than arms sale is convincing. |