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When Pakistan’s military claimed its first attack in October using a home-built drone to hit a Taliban stronghold, western officials were quick to search for clues to a Chinese connection.
巴基斯坦军方去年10月宣布首次使用国产无人机打击一个塔利班据点后，西方官员们很快着手寻找中国技术的线索。
Experts say Pakistan’s “Burraq”, one of the two types of indigenously built armed drone, bears a striking resemblance to China’s CH-3.
专家们表示，巴基斯坦两款国产武装无人机之一“Burraq”与中国的彩虹-3(CH-3)无人机有着惊人的相似之处。
Pakistani officials lauded the drone that equipped the country with a technology that has been denied them by the US in 15 years as a key Washington ally in the campaign against terror.
巴基斯坦官员称赞这种无人机填补了该国的一个技术空白，尽管该国15年来一直是美国反恐战争中的关键盟友，但美国始终拒绝提供这种技术。
“The Americans have given us billions of dollars and military equipment like F-16s since the 9/11 attacks,” says one senior Pakistani foreign ministry official. “But whenever we asked for armed drones, we were refused and the Americans always told us that was sensitive technology.”
“9/11恐怖袭击发生后，美国人给了我们数十亿美元援助和F-16战斗机等军事装备，”巴基斯坦外交部一名高级官员表示。“但我们每次要求获得武装无人机都遭到拒绝，美国人总是告诉我们，那是敏感技术。”
Although Pakistani officials deny suggestions of Chinese involvement in the country’s drone programme, western officials remain unconvinced as military ties between Beijing and Islamabad tighten.
尽管巴基斯坦官员否认中国参与该国无人机计划的说法，但鉴于北京和伊斯兰堡之间的军事关系越来越密切，西方官员不相信巴基斯坦的否认。
Earlier this year, China confirmed an agreement to sell eight submarines to Pakistan in Beijing’s largest ever single defence export order.
去年，中国证实将向巴基斯坦出售8艘潜艇，这是中国史上最大的单笔军工出口订单。
Rana Tanveer Hussain, Pakistan’s minister of defence production, has confirmed that half of the eight submarines will be built at the Karachi shipyard and engineering works, boosting Pakistan’s shipbuilding capacity.
巴基斯坦国防生产部长拉纳映维尔侯赛因(Rana Tanvir Hussain)已确认，8艘潜艇中的一半将在卡拉奇船厂和机器制造厂建造，从而提高巴基斯坦的造船能力。
“The two projects [building four submarines in China and four in Pakistan] will begin simultaneously,” he said, while commending China as an “all-weather friend”.
“这两个项目（在中国和巴基斯坦分别建造4艘潜艇）将同时开始，”他表示。他赞赏中国是一个“全天候的朋友”。
Analysts say Pakistan is seeking to make China its main supplier of military hardware, partly due to the looser financial terms offered by Beijing, replacing traditional suppliers from the west.
分析人士表示，巴基斯坦正寻求将中国当作其主要的军事装备供应方（在一定程度上是由于北京方面的财务条款比较宽松），取代传统的西方供应商。
One indication of China’s emergence as a rising arms exporter was highlighted in a recent report by the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which concluded that China had increased its arms exports 143 per cent in the past five years, replacing Germany to become the world’s third-largest exporter after the US and Russia. China’s biggest customer during the period was Pakistan which, according to Sipri, bought 41 per cent of China’s exported arms.
瑞典的斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所(SIPRI)近期一份报告突显中国作为一个武器出口国的地位不断上升。该报告的结论是，过去五年里中国的武器出口增长143%，使其超越德国，成为世界第三大军火出口国，仅次于美国和俄罗斯。在此期间中国军火出口的最大客户就是巴基斯坦；据斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所估算，巴基斯坦购买了中国军火出口的41%。
“China’s capacity to indigenously produce military platforms has made significant gains over the past decade or so, and gone are the days when it simply used to copy Soviet or Russian designs, so countries buying Chinese equipment like Pakistan certainly stand to gain,” says Peter Felstead, editor of IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, the global defence publication.
“过去10年期间，中国自主研制武器平台的能力取得了长足进展，只能复制苏联或俄罗斯设计的日子早已过去了，因此巴基斯坦等国购买中国的装备肯定是有利的，”全球防务刊物《简氏防务周刊》(IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly)主编彼得菲尔斯塔德(Peter Felstead)表示。
“The gap between Chinese capabilities and those of the west have been narrowed, except in a few areas such as the production of aero-engines, for which Chinese-built platforms remain dependent on Russian imports.”
“中国与西方之间的技术能力差距已经收窄，只有少数领域除外，如航空发动机的生产，为此，中国制造的飞机平台仍依赖从俄罗斯进口的发动机。”
Mr Felstead’s reference to Russian components is most visible in the case of the JF-17 “Thunder” fighter jet, jointly manufactured by China and the Pakistan Air Force at its Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, just north of Islamabad. A senior Pakistan defence ministry official confirmed that the JF-17, which will become the PAF’s main second-line fighter jet, will be “powered for the foreseeable future” with the Russian-built RD-93 engine, overlooking Beijing’s offer of a Chinese engine.
菲尔斯塔德提到的俄制组件在巴基斯坦空军的JF-17（中国称为“枭龙”，代号FC-1）战斗机上最为明显。中巴在伊斯兰堡以北的巴基斯坦航空综合企业(Pakistan Aeronautical Complex)联合生产此型战机。巴基斯坦国防部一名高官证实，将成为巴基斯坦空军主要二线战斗机的JF-17，“在可以预见的未来”仍将采用俄制RD-93发动机，而不是北京方面提议的一款中国制造的发动机。
Pieter Wezeman of Sipri says Chinese military equipment is at a disadvantage for not having been used in conflict situations, unlike hardware from western suppliers which comes with a combat history. “The only place where Chinese equipment is known to have performed alongside equipment from other suppliers is Pakistan,” he notes.
斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所的彼得韦策曼(Pieter Wezeman)表示，中国军事装备的一个不利因素是，它们从未用于实战，而不像西方供应商提供的装备那样经受过实战考验。“巴基斯坦据信是中国的装备同其他供应商的装备搭配使用的唯一地方，”他指出。
In the case of Pakistan’s use of its first armed drone, Mr Wezeman says it is important to remember that it was used against Taliban targets in a remote region along the Afghan border, and it was not challenged by enemy aircraft. “One has to be careful before one sees this as a breakthrough,” he adds.
对于巴基斯坦首次利用武装无人机的战例，韦策曼表示，有必要记住的是，军方是在阿富汗边境的一个偏远地区使用无人机打击塔利班目标，没有敌机对抗。“人们在认为这是一个突破之前必须谨慎，”他补充道。
Still, western defence officials say Beijing’s strategy of offering significantly lower prices and a virtual absence of political strings gives China a rising presence in international markets.
话虽如此，西方防务官员们表示，北京方面的战略（提供显著较低的价格，基本上不附带任何政治条件）使中国在国际军火市场占有越来越大的地盘。
