Like many other air forces implementing the device, such as in Greece or India, the Mirage 2000-5 is a device particularly appreciated by the pilots of the Taiwanese air forces and popular with the public opinion of the country. .
Fast, highly manoeuvrable and equipped with high-performance Magic 2 and MICA air-to-air missiles, the approximately 48 single-seater Mirage 2000-5Ei and 12 two-seater Mirage 2000-5Di acquired in 1992 and delivered between 1997 and 1998, have since largely contributed to to contain incursions by Su-27s, and later J-11s, J-10s and other J-16s of the People's Liberation Army beyond the line separating the Taiwan Strait.
However, if Beijing had, at the beginning of the 90s, only very few means of pressure on France to derail the contract (unlike the United States which did everything possible to achieve this and place their F -16), the situation changed rapidly during the 2000s, when the Chinese economy exploded, and Beijing became, for a time, a major client of the French defense industry, particularly in the field of helicopters.
In fact, France has gradually distanced itself from Taipei and its arms contracts, to the point that today Paris is no longer able to decide to support the autonomy of Taiwan, without coming to suffer very heavy economic threats from Beijing.
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