Chinese Navy Modernization Could Lead To U.S. Countermoves, CRS Report Says

Chinese Navy Modernization Could Lead To U.S. Countermoves, CRS Report Says

As concerns over the modernization of Chinese naval forces grow, Congress needs to worry about how much it should weight China's growing power in its planning for U.S. Navy capabilities, says a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

"Several elements of China's military modernization have potential implications for future required U.S. Navy capabilities," says the report. "These include theater-range ballistic missiles (TBMs), land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs), anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), land-based aircraft, submarines, surface combatants, amphibious ships, naval mines, nuclear weapons, and possibly high-power microwave (HPM) devices.

Limitations

"China's naval limitations or weaknesses include capabilities for operating in waters more distant from China, joint operations, C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), long-range surveillance and targeting systems, anti-air warfare (AAW), antisubmarine warfare (ASW), mine countermeasures (MCM), and logistics," the report says.

One of the most prominent elements of China's military modernization has been the deployment of large numbers of theater-range ballistic missiles (TBMs) capable of attacking targets in Taiwan or other regional locations, the report says. "Among these are CSS-6 and CSS-7 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) deployed in locations across from Taiwan. DOD states that China as of October 2006 had deployed 875 to 975 CSS-6 and CSS-7 TBMs, and that this total is increasing at a rate of more than 100 missiles per year."

..Maritime targets

Although ballistic missiles in the past have traditionally been used to attack fixed targets on land, CRS notes, DOD and other observers believe China is developing TBMs equipped with maneuverable re-entry vehicles (MARVs) capable of hitting moving ships at sea.

Of more pressing concern may be potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait. "China's naval modernization has potential implications for required U.S. Navy capabilities in terms of preparing for a conflict in the Taiwan Strait area, maintaining U.S. Navy presence and military influence in the Western Pacific, and countering Chinese ballistic missile submarines," the report says.

"Preparing for a conflict in the Taiwan Strait area could place a premium on the following: on-station or early-arriving Navy forces, capabilities for defeating China's maritime anti-access forces, and capabilities for operating in an environment that could be characterized by information warfare and possibly electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and the use of nuclear weapons," the report says.

--Michael Fabey