Current Events in Asia-Pacific

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…

From DefenseNews China Seen Deploying New Missiles in 10 Years By REUTERS China is expected to deploy three new strategic missiles over the next decade as part of an aggressive military build-up seen threatening U.S. forces in the region, a U.S. intelligence official said May 3. David Gordon, chairman of the National Intelligence Council, told a commission charged with overseeing the consolidation of U.S. military bases that the arrival of new, more capable missiles coincided with China’s growing influence on the balance of power in the Taiwan Straits. “Strategic force modernization is a continuing priority, and China will likely field three new strategic mis…

China Shows Off Futuristic Ships at IDEX (DefenseNews' Intercepts blog)

From Air Force Magazine August 2007, Vol. 90, No. 8 It’s time to stop wondering if China is a military danger. Its buildup answers that question for anyone who had an honest doubt. China Stands Up By Richard Halloran Sun Tzu would be pleased. Some 2,500 years ago, the great Chinese strategist wrote: “The art of war is of vital importance to the state.” Today, communist China, with a rapidly if unevenly expanding economy, has turned to building a world-class military force and mastering the art of modern war, all part of its quest to become the predominant power in Asia. The country’s very name—“Chung Kuo”—means the “Middle Kingdom,” a concept holding th…

From Aviation Week Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon By Craig Covault/Aviation Week & Space Technology 01/17/2007 07:45:59 PM U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan. 11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile. The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test, Aviation Week & Space Technology will report in its Jan. 22 issue. …

China Tests New Electronic Battlefield System By WENDELL MINNICK, TAIPEI DefenseNews China revealed its version of the “digital soldier” concept at its annual North Sword 0709 live-fire exercise, begun Sept. 18 at the Zhurihe training base in northern Inner Mongolia. According to a Xinhua press report, the exercise involved 2,000 soldiers, tanks and other vehicles equipped with electronic devices that instantly relayed data about battlefield conditions back to the command center. The system collected data on causalties, food, ammunition and supplies. “The system could let us know the exact conditions our troops are in under combat; how much ammunition, water and…

From Defense News China To Have 800 Missiles Aimed at Taiwan in 2006: Defense Minister By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, TAIPEI The number of Chinese ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan is expected to reach at least 800 next year, the island’s defense minister Lee Jye said March 9. The People’s Liberation Army currently has 700 ballistic missiles deployed opposite Taiwan, Lee said in his first report to the new session of parliament. “The number is estimated to increase to 800 next year,” Lee warned, in a call for support of a new 480 billion Taiwan dollar ($15.24 billion) arms package aimed at deterring China. His report came one day after Taipei lodged wh…

From Defence Talk China to begin projecting military around the world: analysts Agence France-Presse | Jan 28, 2009 London: China is likely to begin deploying its military increasingly further from its borders, analysts at a top thinktank said on Tuesday. The Asian power was also unlikely to constrain its defence budget because of an economic downturn that has left the World Bank forecasting the slowest pace of growth in China since 1990, the analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said. Noting that China began using a naval convoy in the Gulf of Aden to protect the country's shipping from Somali pirates, IISS director of transnation…

From Defense Aerospace China's Defense Budget to Increase 17.8% in 2007 (Source: Voice of America News; issued March 4, 2007) BEIJING --- China's military spending will grow by 17.8 percent to nearly $45 billion this year. China has steadily increased its defense budget by double digits over the past few years, raising concerns about its military intentions. China will increase its military spending by 17.8 percent this year, to improve salaries and living conditions for military personnel and to upgrade equipment and technology. Jiang Enzhu, the Deputy Secretary General and spokesman for the National People's Congress, announced the jump in military …

China to build aircraft carrier to develop navy fleet: report+ TMCNet (Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)HONG KONG, March 10_(Kyodo) _ The Chinese military is currently planning to build an aircraft carrier, a pro-Beijing daily in Hong Kong reported Friday. "The Chinese army will conduct research and build an aircraft carrier and develop our own aircraft carrier fleet," People's Liberation Army Lt. Gen. Wang Zhiyuan was quoted as saying in the Chinese-language Wen Wei Po. "An aircraft carrier is a very important tool for big countries defending their interests in the sea. China is a big country with a long shoreline. An aircraft carrier is n…

Hard on the heels of the story about the Song diesel sub getting the better of the Kitty Hawk CSG (which, although inflated in importance, does serve to remind us of the growing capability of the PRC to project power), comes more rumours of an impending sale by Russia to China of up to 48 Su-33 Flanker carrier based fighters. More here.

China To Buy Russian Fighters, Subs (DefenseNews) 24 Su-35s and four Lada SSK.

From http://www.defensenews.com China To Increase Military Spending in 2005 By ROBERT J. SAIGET, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BEIJING China is expected to increase its military expenditure by 12.6 percent this year, while boosting its capability of using force to reunify rival Taiwan, sources said March 3. The rise in spending comes with Washington voicing concern that China’s military build-up could tilt the strategic balance with Taiwan and also threaten U.S. forces in Asia. In his budget report to the upcoming annual session of the National People’s Congress, Finance Minister Jin Renqing is expected to propose raising military spending in 2005 to 244.65 billion …

From Aviation Week [excerpt]

China to Start Construction on 1st Type 075 LHD Amphibious Assault Ship for PLAN Soon (Navy Recognition) Type 075 Watch: China's Navy May Soon Be Second to the US Navy in Amphibious Assault (The Diplomat)

From Defence Talk China To Use Galileo Satellite Navigation System Xinhua News Agency Dec 8, 2006 - 6:17:20 AM Nanjing, China: The European Union's Galileo satellite navigation system, a rival to the reigning global positioning system (GPS) of the United States, is expected to be operational in China in 2008. The 30-satellite system, with a navigational fix accurate to within one meter, will provide safe, reliable and accurate navigational information for Chinese users in fields of civil aviation, railway, waterway and road transportation, according to a Sino-EU technology cooperation symposium in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. China …

From DefenseNews China Tried To Blind U.S. Sats With Laser By VAGO MURADIAN China has fired high-power lasers at U.S. spy satellites flying over its territory in what experts see as a test of Chinese ability to blind the spacecraft, according to sources. It remains unclear how many times a ground-based laser was tested against U.S. spacecraft or whether it was successful. But the combination of China’s efforts and advances in Russian satellite-jamming capabilities that illustrate vulnerabilities to the U.S. space network are driving U.S. Air Force plans to develop new space architectures and highly classified systems, according to sources. The hardware on the …

[excerpt] Beijing is revealing pictures of its indigenously built J-15 Flying Shark design that is intended to populate the decks of its first aircraft carrier. It comes equipped with large surface area wings (for extra lift at low speeds) that fold (for a small footprint on a crowded aircraft carrier deck), reinforced landing gear (for high, sink-rate landings), a tailhook (for arrested landing on short carrier decks) and a light blue paint scheme to signal its role in the People's Liberation Army’s Navy. Small canards on the nose also are to help lower the landing speed and the tail cone has been shortened to avoid ramp strikes. [/excerpt] Full story

China Warns of ‘Inevitable’ War with US Over South China Sea (Defense One)

China warns U.S. it will not allow violations of its waters (Reuters) The USN needs to go ahead and call China's bluff on this. To fail to do so (or, rather, to continue to fail to do so) will be a tacit (and dangerous) acknowledgement of China's ridiculous claims as legitimate.