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Shanghai Surprise
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 8/2/2007
China: Little noticed in the West, the Chinese celebrate the 80th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army. As a museum exhibit celebrating the event shows, the operative word here may still be liberation.
As visitors enter Beijing's Military Museum to see the exhibits marking the PLA's anniversary, they are greeted by a panorama covering a large wall and depicting an event which has not occurred in the PLA's history — a seaborne invasion of enemy territory.
This signals both a change in mission and a change in capability for the world's largest army that fought land wars in Korea and against its neighbors, India and Vietnam.
The mural shows planes, helicopters, missiles, landing craft and tanks crossing the sea towards an enemy beach that can only be Taiwan.
The PLA is no longer just a land-based organization and the Chinese Navy no longer a collection of outmoded and castoff vessels barely suited for coastal patrol.
This can be seen in the fishing village of Kaolao on the Yellow Sea where on one side of a promontory jutting into the sea sit the wooden boats of local fisherman.
On the other side, one finds well-guarded berths that are home to some of the most advanced attack submarines in the world. They include eight new Russian-built, diesel-powered Kilo-class submarines, among the quietest and stealthiest in the world.
Its undersea warfare capabilities were demonstrated last October, when a Chinese Song-class attack submarine surfaced undetected within weapons distance of the USS Kitty Hawk off Okinawa, Japan.
The sub was armed with Russian-made, wake-homing torpedoes and anti-ship cruise missiles.
The Chinese navy now operates 57 submarines, five of them nuclear-powered, with many of them equipped with Yingji-8 anti-ship cruise missiles that they can launch while still submerged.
China has six new submarine programs underway while under procurement and decommissioning plans the U.S. attack sub fleet is expected to dwindle to 30 boats by 2030.
China has launched the first of five Type 094 Jin-class ballistic missile submarines. Each of these behemoths will carry 16 JL-2 ballistic missiles with a range of 5,000 miles.
These missiles, sea-based versions of the land-based DF-31, which can reach Alaska and Hawaii, can be launched against mainland U.S. cities from the relative safety of Chinese coastal waters.
China is also building its own surface warships, including frigates and destroyers, and fitting them with Russian radars, antiaircraft weapons, and anti-ship cruise missiles.
Late last year, China took delivery of the second of two sophisticated Russian-built Sovremenny II class guided-missile destroyers.
The ships are equipped with SSN-22 Sunburns, supersonic cruise missiles that were designed by Soviet weapons makers for one purpose — to destroy U.S. ships, specifically, the U.S. aircraft carriers and their battle groups which would be rushed to Taiwan's aid.
Chen Yung-Kang, head of the Taiwan Defense Ministry's Integration Evaluation Office, said last November that China is building its own aircraft carrier and plans to launch its first carrier battle group by 2020. "The aircraft carrier under construction is modeled on the Varyag and will be equipped with the J-11 warplanes (that are) a copy of the Russian Sukhoi Su-27," Chen said.
"By 2010, most of China's anti-access forces will be in place, making it very difficult to use Pacific forces to help Taiwan," says Richard Fisher, vice-president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, and an expert on the Chinese military.
China continues to expand and upgrade its land-based ICBM force. It recently demonstrated its ability to blast U.S. surveillance and communications satellites out of orbit by destroying an old weather satellite with a ground-launched kinetic-kill vehicle. Chinese defense spending rose 18% this year after a 15% increase the year before.
The Chinese are clearly preparing to challenge U.S. supremacy in the Western Pacific. One wonders what military event the People's Liberation Army might be celebrating on its 90th anniversary
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 8/2/2007
China: Little noticed in the West, the Chinese celebrate the 80th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army. As a museum exhibit celebrating the event shows, the operative word here may still be liberation.
As visitors enter Beijing's Military Museum to see the exhibits marking the PLA's anniversary, they are greeted by a panorama covering a large wall and depicting an event which has not occurred in the PLA's history — a seaborne invasion of enemy territory.
This signals both a change in mission and a change in capability for the world's largest army that fought land wars in Korea and against its neighbors, India and Vietnam.
The mural shows planes, helicopters, missiles, landing craft and tanks crossing the sea towards an enemy beach that can only be Taiwan.
The PLA is no longer just a land-based organization and the Chinese Navy no longer a collection of outmoded and castoff vessels barely suited for coastal patrol.
This can be seen in the fishing village of Kaolao on the Yellow Sea where on one side of a promontory jutting into the sea sit the wooden boats of local fisherman.
On the other side, one finds well-guarded berths that are home to some of the most advanced attack submarines in the world. They include eight new Russian-built, diesel-powered Kilo-class submarines, among the quietest and stealthiest in the world.
Its undersea warfare capabilities were demonstrated last October, when a Chinese Song-class attack submarine surfaced undetected within weapons distance of the USS Kitty Hawk off Okinawa, Japan.
The sub was armed with Russian-made, wake-homing torpedoes and anti-ship cruise missiles.
The Chinese navy now operates 57 submarines, five of them nuclear-powered, with many of them equipped with Yingji-8 anti-ship cruise missiles that they can launch while still submerged.
China has six new submarine programs underway while under procurement and decommissioning plans the U.S. attack sub fleet is expected to dwindle to 30 boats by 2030.
China has launched the first of five Type 094 Jin-class ballistic missile submarines. Each of these behemoths will carry 16 JL-2 ballistic missiles with a range of 5,000 miles.
These missiles, sea-based versions of the land-based DF-31, which can reach Alaska and Hawaii, can be launched against mainland U.S. cities from the relative safety of Chinese coastal waters.
China is also building its own surface warships, including frigates and destroyers, and fitting them with Russian radars, antiaircraft weapons, and anti-ship cruise missiles.
Late last year, China took delivery of the second of two sophisticated Russian-built Sovremenny II class guided-missile destroyers.
The ships are equipped with SSN-22 Sunburns, supersonic cruise missiles that were designed by Soviet weapons makers for one purpose — to destroy U.S. ships, specifically, the U.S. aircraft carriers and their battle groups which would be rushed to Taiwan's aid.
Chen Yung-Kang, head of the Taiwan Defense Ministry's Integration Evaluation Office, said last November that China is building its own aircraft carrier and plans to launch its first carrier battle group by 2020. "The aircraft carrier under construction is modeled on the Varyag and will be equipped with the J-11 warplanes (that are) a copy of the Russian Sukhoi Su-27," Chen said.
"By 2010, most of China's anti-access forces will be in place, making it very difficult to use Pacific forces to help Taiwan," says Richard Fisher, vice-president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, and an expert on the Chinese military.
China continues to expand and upgrade its land-based ICBM force. It recently demonstrated its ability to blast U.S. surveillance and communications satellites out of orbit by destroying an old weather satellite with a ground-launched kinetic-kill vehicle. Chinese defense spending rose 18% this year after a 15% increase the year before.
The Chinese are clearly preparing to challenge U.S. supremacy in the Western Pacific. One wonders what military event the People's Liberation Army might be celebrating on its 90th anniversary
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