巴基斯坦批准购买中国潜艇交易
Pakistan’s government has approved a deal to buy eight submarines from China, in what some analysts say will be the largest defence contract between the countries — and the biggest arms export deal for China.
Although officials from Pakistan’s navy neither gave a price tag nor revealed the types of submarines being pursued, they confirmed a decision “in principle” during a hearing of the parliamentary defence committee in Islamabad.
尽管巴基斯坦海军官员拒绝透露价格或潜艇型号，但他们证实，议会国防委员会在伊斯兰堡举行的一场听证会上做出了“原则上”的决定。A former senior Pakistan navy officer close to the talks said the contract could be worth $4bn-$5bn. “China has agreed again to fill a strategic gap,” he said. “It was about time we placed an order.”
接近谈判的巴基斯坦海军一名前高级军官称，这份合同可能价值40亿至50亿美元。“中国已再次同意填补一项战略空白，”他说。“我们也该下订单了。”
Chinese analysts valued the deal at less than half that amount.
中国分析人士对这笔交易的估价为上述数额的不到一半。Islamabad has long been Beijing’s top arms customer, driving China’s emergence as a big exporter of military hardware. Pakistan bought more than 40 per cent of China’s arms exports over the past five years, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
巴基斯坦一直是中国的头号武器客户，推动中国成为军事装备出口大国。斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所(SIPRI)称，巴基斯坦在过去五年里买下了40%以上的中国武器出口。China’s arms exports surged 143 per cent over the same period, making it the world’s third-largest arms exporter, behind only the US and Russia.
同期中国武器出口猛增143%，使其成为世界第三大武器出口国，仅次于美国和俄罗斯。Analysts in Islamabad say Beijing may have agreed to the deal to help counter the perceived threat from India, amid fears the country is building its navy to claim a presence in the Pacific.
伊斯兰堡的分析人士表示，北京方面可能已经同意了这笔交易，以帮助反制来自印度的潜在威胁。中国有人担心，印度正在为进军太平洋而建设其海军。“China has its own strategic reasons to help Pakistan in this area,” said Ali Sarwar Naqvi, a former senior Pakistani diplomat. “As India prepares to head into the Pacific Ocean, the Chinese are looking to head into the Indian Ocean.”
“中国在这方面帮助巴基斯坦有自己的战略考虑，”巴基斯坦前高级外交官阿里•萨瓦尔•纳克维(Ali Sarwar Naqvi)表示。“在印度准备进入太平洋之际，中国正寻机进入印度洋。”Ian Storey, at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, agreed there was clear strategic rationale.
新加坡东南亚研究所(Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)的伊恩•斯托里(Ian Storey)也认为，这笔交易有明确的战略逻辑。“India has been modernising and expanding its navy for over a decade now,” he said. “While Pakistan can never close the gap between its own and India’s conventional armed forces, submarines would provide the Pakistan navy with a credible deterrent.”
“印度推进海军现代化和扩军已有十多年了，”他说。“尽管巴基斯坦永远不可能在常规武装力量方面弥合其与印度的差距，但潜艇将给巴基斯坦海军带来可信的威慑力量。”
