Defense/Military - 18. page

During China’s National Day, the state media revealed much information about China’s construction of the space station “Tiangong-1.” China claims it will complete the construction of the space station within two years.

The Chinese state media reported on this space station project in detail, including the construction schedule, timetable, multiple components under construction and astronaut training. China stated that it will complete 11 intensive lift-offs within two years, using the “Shenzhou” manned spacecraft and the “Tianzhou” cargo spacecraft to deliver astronauts and multiple space station modules into space.

The Long March 5-B rocket is planned to launch at the Wenchang Launch Center in Hainan province in the first half of 2021 to carry the “Tianhe” core cabin module. The Long March 2-F rocket will subsequently launch at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province, carrying the “Shenzhou” manned spacecraft.

China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on October 1 that 18 astronauts will participate in the program, including seven pilots, seven aerospace engineers and four payload specialists, one of whom is a female.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation once stated that the mission life of China’s “Tiangong-1” space station will last about 15 years, which can accommodate three astronauts in orbit for a long term station with a half-year rotation, and a short-term stay of six people for ten days.

In June this year, Chinese state media announced it was partnering with 23 entities from 17 countries, including France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, and Peru, to carry out scientific experiments on board.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently issued a warning that China’s space station program may threaten the U.S. space superiority, after the International Space Station is decommissioned. Administrator Jim Bridenstine told the lawmakers this was critical to maintaining US space supremacy in the face of a planned Chinese space station that Beijing hopes will be operational by 2022.

The first parts of the International Space Station were launched in 1998 and it has been lived in continuously since 2000. The station, which serves as a space science lab and is a partnership between the US, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada, is currently expected to be operated until 2030.

“In order to be able to have the United States of America have a presence in low Earth orbit, we have to be prepared for what comes next,” he added.

To that end, NASA has requested $150 million for the 2021 fiscal year to help develop the commercialization of low Earth orbit, defined as 2,000 km or less from the planet’s surface.

“China is rapidly building what they call the ‘Chinese International Space Station,’ and they’re rapidly marketing that space station to all of our international partners,” said Bridenstine. “It would be a tragedy if, after all of this time and all of this effort, we were to abandon low Earth orbit and cede that territory.”

Source: Voice of America, October 9, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/Chinese-media-touts-its-space-station-program-20201009/5615428.html

In July, China’s Ministry of Education issued a notice requiring students at local schools and colleges to watch a promotional video and a mini film that the Recruitment Office of the Defense Ministry produced.

The government has also recently adjusted its conscription system. Beginning in 2020, China will increase the frequency from “one conscription and one retirement every year” to “two conscriptions and two retirements every year.” The recruitment process, conducted once in each half of the year, will target college graduates.

For quite a long time, China’s troops came mainly from rural areas. After China initiated the recruitment from universities and colleges years ago, more and more students have enlisted in the army. Li Baoyang, a researcher from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, believes that China’s urbanization process has made college graduates the main source of recruits. “Especially since the start of the 21st century, China’s rural areas have basically been ‘empty nests,’ and there are very few young and middle-aged populations. Now, the rural areas are generally dilapidated, and there are few soldiers to recruit.”

People’ Liberation Army (PLA) Daily, the newspaper for the Chinese military, once reported that Shanghai ranked top in the country in recent years in terms of the proportion of college graduates who enlisted. Nationwide, the percentage of enlisted college students has soared from 17 percent in 2006 to 90 percent in 2018.

A number of incentive policies have also been introduced throughout the country to attract college students to the army. Soldiers receive preferential considerations when applying for government jobs. They also receive a subsidy after two years of service. State-owned enterprises also reserve 15 percent of their positions for retired college student soldiers. In recent years, the authorities have relaxed the recruitment standards. In 2014, the minimum height for male recruits nationwide was reduced from 162 cm to 160 cm, and the weight limit rose from 25 percent to 30 percent exceeding the standard.

In 2020, the population of college graduates will reach 8.74 million, another record high. At the same time, the epidemic and the prolonged economic slowdown have diminished the labor demand. With the serious imbalance in supply and demand, college graduates are facing unprecedented pressure looking for jobs. Joining the army may be an attractive choice. The number of Chinese college students who signed up to join the army last year reached 1.24 million, close to 15 percent of the total graduates.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 10, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/hc-08102020134352.html

China News reported that on August 6, China opened the Xinqiao Hospital train, the first military hospital train in China. The train consists of boxcars that serve purposes such as a command center, medical care, surgical emergency, intensive care, and medical technical support. It is the equivalent of a mobile hospital with the capacity to load 500 wounded personnel and it can carry out surgical first aid, intensive care, virtual treatment, and other medical services during transportation. There are two dedicated railroad lines for the hospital train which are located on the east side of Xinqiao university hospital. The railroad lines connect to the national railroad network through the nearby Chongqing (Sichuan province)–Guiyang (Guizhou province) Railway. The Xinqiao Hospital train will be used as a hospital train and carry out corresponding medical training. In wartime or military operations, however, it will perform strategic support and emergency rescue tasks. It will also deliver medical support and services to the country  and to regions along the belt and road areas.

Source: Chinanews, August 7, 2020
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2020/08-07/9258882.shtml

Kyodo News Agency learned on August 2 that a nuclear missile expert from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said that China has an early warning system that can detect nuclear missiles before they land and can use nuclear weapons to counterattack. The expert pointed out that at present only the United States and Russia possess this technology. If the claim is true, China will enhance its nuclear combat capability and change the world’s strategic balance.

The early warning system is the key to high-end missile defense (MD) technology, composed of manmade satellites and maritime radar, used for detecting the launch of ballistic missiles. China has always been opposed to the United States’ missile defense development.

Yang Chengjun (杨承军) is a retired officer who served for years in Chinese military’s nuclear missile forces, also known as the PLA Rocket Forces. He is also widely known as a security expert in the National Security Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Yang’s article, titled, “It is inappropriate to hype up nuclear-related issues on the Internet,” was published in a government magazine, Motherland (祖国)” (electronic version on May 12). It states that the Chinese military has an early warning system that can detect nuclear missile attacks within minutes after their launch and conduct a nuclear counterattack before they land. He emphasized that China’s comprehensive nuclear combat capability is not inferior to the United States or Russia.

The system is said to be able to detect nuclear missiles in three stages: the initial stage after launch, the intermediate stage of cruising beyond the atmosphere, and the final stage of returning to the atmosphere. If a counterattack can be carried out within a few minutes, it implies that China has mastered the technology to use early warning satellites to detect heat sources during launch. China is believed to be developing this technology.

Source: Kyodo News Chinese, August 2, 2020
https://china.kyodonews.net/news/2020/08/73db29416aa3.html

Radio Free Asia reported that, in an interview with Yao Chen, the former CCP navy Command Lieutenant Colonel, Yao said that if China and the U.S. start a war in the South China Sea, the CCP will soon collapse.

According to Yao, the CCP’s military strength is far less than that of the US military. If the two sides confront each other in the South China Sea using their navies and air force, he estimated that it will take less than a day for the U.S. military’s F-35 stealth fighters to destroy the CCP’s navy and air force. He said that the U.S. policy toward China does not show it intends to occupy China’s territory, but the CCP’s current expansion in the South China Sea has touched the bottom line for the Western world, especially the U.S. Yao said that once the U.S. and China go to war in the South China Sea, there may also be a military confrontation on a border, such as the China-Indian border and a resistance from Uyghurs in Tibet and Xinjiang. Yao Chen also believes that, if the U.S. and China have a military confrontation, Japan and ASEAN countries would all support the U.S. As soon as the CCP launches its military force, it is expected that the whole world will stand up to resist China. Therefore, as long as the CCP starts a war, it will soon to collapse.

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 31, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/war-07312020060431.html

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Swedish think tank, recently released reports, showing a total of 13,400 nuclear warheads worldwide as of January 2020, distributed among the USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. China currently has a stockpile of 320 warheads in its arsenal, compared to 5,800 in the United States and 6,370 in Russia. However, “in 2019 China and India were, respectively, the second- and third-largest military spenders in the world. China’s military expenditures reached $261 billion in 2019, a 5.1 per cent increase compared with 2018, while India’s grew by 6.8 per cent to $71.1 billion.”

SIPRI pointed out that “China is in the middle of a significant modernization of its nuclear arsenal. It is developing a so-called nuclear triad for the first time, made up of new land- and sea-based missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft.” According to sources from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China added at least 30 nuclear warheads in 2019, some of which are already ready for deployment. As it is difficult to tell China’s intentions, its unrestricted arsenal has become a threat to many countries. The latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have also contributed to nuclear risks.

The specifics of the nuclear tactics of the PLA, including its weapons manufacturing and the capability of its buildup and deployment, have always been the focus of foreign observers, who believe that the Chinese military has hidden nuclear warheads in many inland provinces, especially Xinjiang. China is believed to have conducted test explosions in the enclosed areas of Xinjiang, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Inner Mongolia.

“SIPRI’s estimates suggest that China is the second-largest arms producer in the world, behind the United States and ahead of Russia. All four of the profiled companies would have been ranked among the 20 largest arms-producing and military services companies globally in 2017, with three—AVIC, NORINCO, and CETC—in the top 10.”

SIPRI’s database shows that China was the fifth largest exporter in 2015–19, following the United States, Russia, France, and Germany. The large buyers of Chinese weapons include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Algeria. According to SIPRI, “Most of these countries are considered friendly or are allies of China.”

So far, China has not signed the 2013 United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) or any relevant international agreement. The United States insists that China should join the nuclear arms reduction talks, but China has repeatedly refused. The U.S. has insisted that China join future nuclear arms reduction talks—something that China has categorically ruled out.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, June 26, 2020.
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/cl-06262020125541.html
2. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, June 15, 2020
https://sipri.org/media/press-release/2020/nuclear-weapon-modernization-continues-outlook-arms-control-bleak-new-sipri-yearbook-out-now