Pakistan To Sign $4 Billion Chinese Submarine Deal

Pakistan has approved $4-$5 billion deal to buy eight submarines from China for modernizing submarine arms.

A Pakistani government official was quoted by Financial Times on Thursday that it could be one of China's largest overseas weapons sales once it is signed.

The official at Tuesday's meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence which was briefed by the Navy said the deal to buy the diesel-electric submarines would likely be signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visits, "but that is still not final". Pakistan was looking at S20 and Yuan class diesel-electric vessels, he added.

A former senior Pakistan navy officer said, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said  "I can tell you, relevant cooperation does not violate international convention and accords with China's three principles on military exports," she added.

The Pakistani official also said that Pakistan had been in talks with France to buy new submarines, but the proposal was declined by the French.

China is Pakistan's top supplier of weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks global arms sales, selling 51 percent of the weapons Islamabad imported in 2010-2014.

Other senior navy officers say Pakistan’s current fleet of five French Agosta submarines, including two ageing vessels built in the 1970s, will by the next decade be insufficient to meet the challenge posed by the planned naval expansion of India, Pakistan’s neighbor and main foe.