A large number of Chinese military-industrial enterprises went to participate in the European International Defense Exhibition, which opened in Paris.
More than 60 Chinese companies participated in the exhibition, and many weapons designed and manufactured by China were presented at the exhibition.
What's even more interesting is that these weapons designed by our side are still using NATO standards.
So why are we still designing weapons of NATO standards? These weapons were also sent to the defense exhibition. Could it be that we are ready to export weapons to NATO countries?
We should look at this issue not only from a political point of view, but also from an economic point of view.
Why do China's military-industrial complexes produce weapons according to NATO standards and are ready to export them to NATO countries? This is actually related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
1. NATO does not have much production capacity
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and its allies have provided Ukraine with a lot of military support, and much of this support is free.
But some of them were also given to Ukraine through arms sales, but for the time being, Ukraine will not receive money, but Ukraine will have to pay it back in the future.
This kind of aid has led to a sharp increase in arms exports from NATO countries in recent years, but it is also difficult for them to make money. Because Ukraine is now very poor.
Years of conflict have brought the country's industrial and agricultural production systems to the brink that Ukraine simply can't afford to buy weapons from NATO.
And NATO countries are currently weakening their support for Ukraine, because their military-industrial production capacity is also limited.
After the end of the Cold War, almost all Western countries moved towards deindustrialization, and the United States and Europe carried out deindustrialization very thoroughly.
In addition to the relatively complete military industrial system in the United States, almost all other industrial facilities have been abandoned, and even the ports for building warships may not be able to be retained.
And in Europe, with the exception of France, there is no European country with a well-developed military and industrial production line. This has led to the fact that many of the weapons they gave to Ukraine before were actually pulled out of their own army and sent directly to Ukraine.
At the very beginning, relying on the huge size of NATO, they were also able to support the Ukrainian war.
But as the conflict dragged on for longer and longer, and the military consumption on the Ukrainian side became larger and larger, the United States and Western countries found the problem.
It is already unlikely that they want to continue to maintain aid to Ukraine for a long time.
Although both the United States and Europe are currently claiming to further expand their weapons production capacity and produce more artillery shells to support Ukraine, it is doubtful that they will be able to do so.
After all, the previous military production lines have been dismantled, and now if you want to rebuild the production line, you need to invest a lot of resources.
Moreover, military production is not the same as ordinary industrial production.
In order to carry out precision military production, it is necessary to train those experienced skilled workers, but it also takes a lot of time to train workers.
The workers on the original munitions production line are either retired or have passed away, so it is not so simple to rebuild a complete set of military production lines, and it takes a lot of money, time and resources.
But the Ukrainian side can't wait that long, and even if Ukraine doesn't need the help of NATO countries, it needs weapons to fight.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, NATO countries are raising their defense budgets, and France has put forward the slogan of European defense autonomy to get rid of dependence on the United States on security issues.
However, when their own military production capacity is insufficient, they also need weapons for self-defense.
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The mainland suddenly put a large number of NATO-standard weapons on the defense exhibition run by the Europeans.
To put it bluntly, it is telling these European countries that if their own production capacity is not enough, they can consider buying from China.
After all, China is the world's largest manufacturing country, and we also have a well-established military industrial production system, and we also have a huge production capacity.
What Europe wants, China has. In addition, we can also customize NATO standard weapons for customers.
So this time, there are a large number of Chinese military-industrial enterprises that take NATO-standard weapons of their own design to participate in the defense exhibition.
To put it bluntly, it wants to open up the European market and further promote the development of China's arms trade.
2. The development of arms trade is in China's interests
It is true that the relationship between us and NATO is not very good, and there are even many differences between the two sides, but this does not mean that we cannot cooperate.
This is an era of globalization, and the mainland's foreign policy has always been to be willing to maintain friendly ties with any country.
Such a link is not only economic cooperation, but also military-industrial cooperation.
We are not only willing to cooperate with European countries, but also South American countries, Russia, Middle Eastern countries, and African countries that want to buy weapons from China.
Because this has a positive effect on China's arms exports. Being able to open up foreign markets and sell a large number of weapons to the world is also beneficial to the mainland, and this benefit is mainly concentrated in two aspects.
The first is the large amount of money that can be obtained to feed back into China's military industrial system.
Over the past 20 years, the mainland has invested a lot of resources in the field of military technology, after all, China must find ways to improve its national defense and security system to ensure China's national security.
With the investment of huge resources and funds, we have developed a series of advanced weapons. For example, the fifth-generation fighter J-20, as well as the PLA's latest 055 large destroyer, and the PLA Navy's Fujian aircraft carrier and so on.
These equipment start with hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars.
However, if some less advanced weapons can be sold to the international market, through the dollars earned from abroad, a positive cycle will be formed.
The mainland's military enterprises can not only earn their own money at home, but also go abroad to earn foreign exchange.
In the future, the mainland's military industrial enterprises will be able to have more abundant and sufficient funds to carry out military innovation.
The second benefit is that we can sell Chinese weapons to the whole world, which can further enhance our own international influence.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States continued to export their weapons, which was also a good way to expand their influence.
Why is it that the United States and the countries of the Middle East are able to maintain such a special and close cooperative relationship? In fact, it also relies on the arms trade.
The United States has sold a large number of advanced weapons to countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and even Saudi Arabia has been able to buy from the United States the active weapons and equipment of their armies, including Abrams tanks.
Through this arms trade, the United States binds these countries to itself.
Because these countries want to protect their own security and expand their military power, they need to cooperate with the United States and buy American weapons.
The United States has profited from arms trade and exports, and has made these countries politically and diplomatically bound to itself. So the arms trade is indeed a good tool for expanding its influence.
In the past, we have been exporting weapons to foreign countries, but because the army itself does not have many advanced weapons, China's arms exports have always been mainly in the middle and low end.
But now that China's military technology has also improved, then we can also sell advanced weapons abroad on a large scale to increase our influence.
If we can sell our weapons to NATO countries, it will have a positive effect on the development of the arms trade of the Continental Army.
Even NATO, a military organization that occupies a leading position in the international arms trade, is buying Chinese weapons, so Chinese weapons will be able to better open up the international market.
3. Shell listing
However, the United States and Western countries are certainly skeptical of Chinese weapons.
With such poor relations between NATO and China, if they really buy Chinese weapons, they may not be able to justify themselves with voters in their own country.
Therefore, the mainland is very considerate to provide them with the service of shell replacement and listing.
Previously, it was reported that China North Industries is in talks with Brazil to acquire a 49% stake in Brazil's Avibras Group.
This group is a very well-known arms group in Brazil, and they mainly produce Astros rocket artillery, which has been exported to many countries.
And the mainland will also build rocket artillery. If we can buy a stake in this group and then use their shells to sell rocket artillery that uses Chinese technology, we can also make money.
Perhaps this will allow us to export our arms to more countries.
After all, Brazil's relations with the United States and Western countries are certainly much better than our relations with NATO.
Therefore, when you see that China's military enterprises go to participate in the European defense exhibition, they also have to engage in NATO standard equipment, not only looking at politics, but more about the economy, and more about whether this can bring benefits to China.
As long as it's in China's interest, then why can't it be done? It is always interests that determine international relations.
Epilogue:
Now China has actually found a God-given opportunity in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Let its military industrial enterprises produce weapons according to NATO standards, and then open up the situation in the world through various methods, including shelling and listing, so that China's military weapons can sell well all over the world, and finally increase China's political and military influence in reverse.
This in itself is a legitimate logical cycle, so we need to support the various decisions of the authorities. It is also believed that China's arms trade will become more and more prosperous.
References
Zhang Xuefeng looks at the sky2024-06-27 China seized the God-given opportunity of Russia and Ukraine, and the military industry used the "NATO standard" to open up the situation in the world
The wind of casual freedom2024-06-28China's military industry has taken advantage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis to adopt "NATO standards" for global expansion
Jiangyu Kuo2024-06-28China seized the God-given opportunity of Russia and Ukraine, and the military industry used the "NATO standard" to open up the situation in the world