Doesn't get more authentic than this. !!
Is it a Chinese sale of the plane or a Pakistani sale? My understanding that China was in the lead for getting this sale as they have done all the leg work and that it is "China that is selling the FC1 to Argentina" and not "Pakistan is selling the JF17 to Argentina" in the sameway that "China sold the FC1 to Mynamar" and "Pakistan sold the JF17 to Nigeria" ...
Pakistan obviously performs a portion of the manufacturing and assembly under the overall contract that Pakistan and China have to each other but that is distinct and different to who owns the relationship for the sale.
Given that the large amounts of aid that the UK gives to Pakistan - are the optics on this sale correct ? Surely Pakistan would want the world to see China take the lead on this ? Feels odd to me - and i would not be suprised if the UK tries to cancel the free (aid) £300million of free FX reserves ( $423 million USD of FX ) that get added to Pakistans state bank every year to try and pressure Pakistan to cancel the sale ( and where the benefit to Pakistan is a
one-off sale of $660million of which Pakistan will get a lot less that 58% of it .. ).
If Pakistan loses UK aid - then this "deal" with Argentina is not worth much to Pakistan. Of course we will get the usual drones that want to tell the UK to take a hike about free aid that goes to no one or someone - but given that Pakistan is
BORROWING loans to boost its foreign exchange reserves from the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank to pay its bills in USD's, is the potential loss of the yearly $420million odd of aid truly in Pakistans interest ?
Will be interesting to see how the UK goverment responds to this sale. That alone will determine if this sale is good or bad for Pakistan. The present UK goverment is fairly anti-Pakistan anyway and i am sure they wont let this opportunity to take a stripe or two off Pakistan and the anti-Pakistan elements will jostle to try and hurt Pakistan.