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BBC Chinese: Tsai Ing-wen Kicked Off Taiwan’s Own Submarine Manufacturing Plan

BBC Chinese recently reported that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen officially announced that, due to the increased threats from the Mainland and the effort the Mainland put in place to prevent Taiwan from purchasing foreign submarines, Taiwan decided to construct its own submarines. The submarine project has been assigned to a joint team from both the Chungshan Institute of Science and the CSBC Corporation Taiwan (CSBC is China Ship Building Corporation). Earlier, Taiwan had sent mission groups to Europe to acquire submarine design blueprints and patents. However, many potential partners declined their request. Taiwan currently has four outdated submarines. They bought two of them from the United States in 1973; these had a 1940’s design. They bought another two submarines from Holland in the 80’s. Several Taiwanese shipbuilders claimed they were fully capable of building submarines. President Tsai’s plan is to launch the new submarines in eight years.

Source: BBC Chinese, March 21, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-39340900

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: China Warns U.S. Bomber upon Its Entering ADIZ in East China Seas

Global Times, a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party official newspaper People’s Daily, reported on its website on March 23 that China issued warnings to a U.S. bomber that had entered the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea.

Global Times cited CNN reports that Chinese officials told the pilots that they were illegally operating in Chinese airspace and ordered the U.S. air force plane to leave. According to CNN, the US plane was flying 70 nautical miles southwest of South Korea’s Jeju Island.

Global Times quoted a U.S. Pacific Air Forces spokesperson as saying to CNN, “Pacific Air Forces did not recognize the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) when it was announced in November of 2013, and does not recognize it today.” The spokesperson also told CNN, “The ADIZ has not changed our operations.” 

Global Times did not mention the U.S. pilots’ response, in which they told Chinese air traffic controllers that they were conducting routine operations in international airspace and they did not deviate from their flight path. Nor did Global Times quote CNN’s mentioning that Japan does not recognize China’s ADIZ either.

Source: Global Times, March 23, 2017
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2017-03/10363742.html

 

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

People’s Daily: The Chinese Navy Needs at Least Six Aircraft Carriers

Structural construction has almost been completed on China’s first domestic aircraft carrier and it is expected to be launched this year. In the future, China’s aircraft carrier manufacturing plan will not stop here. In an interview with CCTV, military experts said that China will need at least six aircraft carriers to meet operational requirements and that the aircraft carrier should develop in the direction of being large-scale.

Military expert Cao Weidong said that China’s maritime boundary is very long and China faces serious threats from the sea. China desperately needs a large-scale combat platform such as the aircraft carriers. Therefore, China should not stop at one or two aircraft carriers. Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers represent the future direction of development, with bigger tonnage and stronger combat capability. (China) should build ejection take-off aircraft carriers and have fixed-wing early warning planes on the aircraft carriers.

Military expert Yin Zhuo said that Chinese army must have aircraft carrier battle formations in the direction of both the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Each aircraft carrier battle team should be at least a double aircraft carrier battle group. In general, three aircraft carriers are needed in order to maintain a double aircraft carrier battle group. Thus, the Chinese Navy will need at least six aircraft carriers to meet operational requirements.

Source: People’s Daily, March 22, 2017
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0322/c1011-29160065.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Taiwan Military Developed Jammer against the Beidou Satellite Positioning System

Based on Taiwanese media reports, well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Taiwanese military revealed its anti-Beidou system, which is a suite of jammers to fight against the Mainland’s satellite position system. The Mainland Beidou system is China’s replica of the U.S. GPS system, with some improvements. The Beidou system can significantly improve the precision of China’s missiles that are aimed at Taiwan. It is expected that the Mainland military will complete the next phase by the year 2020. The Taiwanese anti-Beidou equipment includes a jammer for individual soldiers, a satellite jammer for vehicles, and a radar-based anti-satellite system. The new equipment can also send “bail” signals that are designed to fool enemy missiles with fake targets. These new systems have been deployed to various military locations across the island to improve the success rate.

Source: Sina, March 13, 2017
http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/news/int/int/chinesedaily/20170313/07097769746.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

China Successfully Tested the Wing Loong II

On February 27, 2017, China successfully tested the Wing Loong II Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) developed the Wing Loong II. It is China’s first reconnaissance and attack integrated UAV.

The Wing Loong II is 11 meters long and 4.1 meters tall with a wing span of 20.5 meters. It can reach a top speed of 370 km per hour and service ceiling of 9,000 meters. It has an endurance of 20 hours and a payload of 480 kg.

The Wing Loong II’s standard configuration includes synthetic aperture radar, laser guided missiles and GPS guided bombs. It can be used for reconnaissance, monitoring, and air-to-ground attack. It can also be expanded for information collection, electronic warfare, and search and rescue.

Li Yidong, the chief designer of the Wing-Loong platform, claimed, “China has become a country which, after the U.S., has the ability to research and develop the new generation of reconnaissance and strike integrated UAVs.”

He also mentioned that, even before the test flight, China received its biggest UAV foreign order for the Wing Loong II.

Source: People’s Daily, February 28, 2017
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0228/c1011-29113159.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Shows Its Muscle with Allies in the East China Sea

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that several frigates from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force joined the U.S. Carl Vinson aircraft carrier battle group, which has been conducting the U.S.-South Korean military exercises. The Japanese participation lasted four days. It is very rare for Japanese military vessels to join forces with U.S. aircraft in the East China Sea. Apparently, Japan is gaming its luck to threaten China again. According to Japanese media, this joint exercise was a temporary arrangement instead of a planned event. Japan just completed a joint exercise with the U.S. Navy near Guam. The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force also had a joint exercise with the U.S. Marines at the same time. To add to the picture, the U.S. invited the Philippine Defense Secretary on-board the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier a few days back. All these happened a week before the new U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will start his trip to visit China, Japan, and South Korea.

Source: Sina, March 11, 2017
http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/news/int/int/chinesedaily/20170311/09597767293.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

Deployment of China’s J-20 Stealth Fighter Alarmed India

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Chinese Air Force officially deployed the fifth-generation stealth fighter jet J-20, along with a new set of cutting edge aircraft models, including the Y-20 strategic airlifter and the H-6K strategic boomer. The latest deployments placed significant pressure on China’s neighbor India, who is eagerly pressing Russia to transfer its fifth-generation fighter technology. According to Russian media, India expressed a willingness to co-develop the technology with multi-billion dollar investments. It seems India learned a lesson from the failure of its domestic production of the Russian Su-30MKI fighter, which demonstrated India’s inability to manufacture a fourth-generation (the equivalent of China’s third-generation) fighter jet. The new Indian fighter jet will be built based on the Russian T-50 platform. Russia is India’s largest military supplier, providing 70 percent of India’s stock.

Source: Sina, March 10, 2017
http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/jssd/2017-03-10/doc-ifychhus0374155.shtml

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs: Both North Korea and the U.S. Need to Apply the Brakes

At a press conference held on March 8 for the Fifth Plenary Session of the 12th National People’s Congress, Wan Yi, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, answered news reporters’ questions.

A Reuters reporter asked him if China thinks a war will break out on the Korean Peninsula and asked how it could be prevented.

Wan answered, “On the one hand, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), insists on its nuclear missile development. While ignoring international objections and violating the United Nations’ resolution, it recently fired four Ballistic missiles. On the other hand, the U.S. and South Korea held super-large scale military exercises and continually increase their military pressure over the DPRK. This is like two trains that keep accelerating, with no intention of avoiding each other. Are the two sides really ready for a head-on collision? The top priority at this moment is to flash the red lights and apply the brakes.”

Wan said China’s suggestion is that North Korea stops nuclear missile activity and the U.S. and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises, and then both sides come back to the negotiating table.

Source: Xinhua, March 8, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017lh/2017-03/08/c_129504192.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations