Current Events in Asia-Pacific

From DefenseNews China Military Spending May Be Higher Than Acknowledged By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE China’s military spending is 40 to 70 percent higher than it officially acknowledges, and is likely to exceed that of any U.S. ally in two decades, according to a study released May 19 by the RAND Corporation. The study estimated China’s current annual defense spending at between 2.3 and 2.8 percent of its gross domestic product, or between $69 billion and $78 billion in 2001 dollars. That compares to U.S. defense spending of nearly $430 billion in 2004, which was 3.9 percent of GDP in 2004, it said. “China’s defense spending has more than doubled over the…

Los Angeles Times - April 10, 2007 China Missile Test Seen As A Threat To Taiwan Exercise showed ability to blind U.S. satellites that would help defend the island, study says. By Associated Press WASHINGTON — China's anti-satellite test in January increased the country's military threat to Taiwan by demonstrating a limited ability to blind the U.S. satellites that would be deployed in defense of the island, according to a report by an independent private research group to be released today. "The test is a vivid example of how China's emerging military capabilities will complicate the strategic environment confronting U.S. forces for decades to come,"…

Washington Times April 6, 2007 Pg. 9 China Mum On Pace Query On Anti-Satellite System By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times China's senior military leaders refused to disclose any details about a recent test of a new anti-satellite weapon system or other aspects of a secret space-arms program, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters yesterday. Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, who recently returned from a four-day visit to China, also said NATO forces have launched a spring offensive in Afghanistan against ousted Taliban militia. On China's Jan. 11 test, Gen. Pace said he asked Chinese leaders during several meetings about the use of a mi…

China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress (pdf, CRS, via USNI News)

China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress (pdf, CRS)

China Naval Modernization: Implications for US Navy CapabilitiesBackground and Issues for Congress (CRS, pdf)

From DefenseNews China Says Open To Missile Discussions with Taiwan By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BEIJING China on May 3 said it is willing to discuss its missile deployment with Taiwan if the island acknowledges it is part of China and abandons its pro-independence stance. Vice minister of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party Central Committee Wang Zaixi told reporters that as long as Taiwan agrees with the “One China” policy, Beijing will be happy to negotiate missile issues. “I think so long both sides sit down and talk on the basis of ‘One China’, any topic can be put on the table, including the missile issue,” Wang said. “On the basis of the ‘…

State Media: China Plans Second, Larger Aircraft Carrier (DefenseNews)

China Points Finger At U.S. Over Asia-Pacific Tensions (Aviation Week/Reuters)

China practices Taiwan invasion with civilian ferries, bomber flights in Bashi Channel (Jane's)

From DefenseNews [excerpt]

China raises stakes in Japan oil row By Hamish McDonald China Correspondent Beijing October 4, 2005 TheAge A CHINESE warship trained its guns on a low-flying Japanese military patrol aircraft last month in the intensifying confrontation between the two Asian powers over disputed seabed oil and gas reserves. According to Japan's Kyodo news agency, the incident occurred on September 9 when the Japanese navy sent a P-3C aircraft to look at five Chinese warships that had sailed close to a contested boundary between economic zones claimed by both countries. One of the ships trained its guns on the aircraft, Kyodo quoted Japan Self-Defence Agency officials as s…

China Reclaimed Land for South China Sea Anti-Submarine Helicopter Base Near Vietnam (USNI News)

From Aviation Week China Appears To Regret Asat Test May 12, 2008 By Frank Morring, Jr. and Amy Butler/Washington China's leaders miscalculated the international reaction to the country's antisatellite (Asat) weapon test last year, and likely regret that they let their research-and-development bureaucracy carry it out, says a top U.S. expert on the Chinese space program. "The Chinese took very careful aim and shot themselves in the foot with that test," says Joan Johnson-Freese, chairman of the National Security Decision-Making Dept. at the U.S. Naval War College. "I think they now are now recognizing that the international condemnation due them was actually…

From Defense Update [excerpt]

From Flight Global [excerpt]

Janes 04/08/2008 A new armed naval variant of China's Z-9 helicopter has been rolled out, fitted with a new anti-ship missile. Developed from Harbin's Z-9C shipboard helicopter, already in service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, the latest aircraft is designated Z-9D. An image taken recently at the Harbin Aircraft Industry Group facility in the northeastern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, shows what appears to be the prototype Z-9D armed with a Hongdu radar-guided TL-10B (KJ-10B) missile. This is the first time that an anti-ship missile has been seen on a Chinese naval helicopter. The image also confirms that the air-launched TL-10 pro…

China S-400 deal moves forward (Jane's)

From DefenseNews U.S. Exercises Off Guam Impressive: China By REUTERS, BEIJING Chinese military officers who observed U.S. naval exercises in the Western Pacific were "deeply impressed", state media reported June 23. China, one of seven countries attending, sent a 10-member delegation to the Valiant Shield exercises that started on Sunday near Guam, involving more than 290 aircraft, three aircraft carrier strike groups and about 22,000 U.S. forces. The invitation came from the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. William Fallon, on a visit to China in May that was aimed at improving defense contacts between the two often wary military powers. Fallon has…

From DefenseNews China Seeks To Double Trade with Israel By BARBARA OPALL-ROME, TEL AVIV China hopes to double its trade with Israel over the next three years, from nearly $2.5 billion registered in 2004 to $5 billion or more by 2008, according to Beijing’s top diplomat here, who declined to discuss specifics of the two countries’ defense trade. In an April 7 lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ambassador Chen Yonglong noted that Sino-Israeli trade is growing at an annual rate of some 40 percent. When asked specifically about bilateral defense trade ties, however — and about U.S. claims that Israel is Beijing’s second largest supplier of arms a…