Defense/Military - 88. page

China’s state-run news agency Xinhua republished an article from the PLA Daily talking about the immediate need for the Chinese army to develop a strategic level early warning system. The article says that over the last decade, the Chinese army has shortened the distance from developed countries in early warning systems. However, the “short board” problem in the fighting efficiency of the early warning system still exists. At present, the army has mastered most of the modern early warning monitoring technology, is striving to solve the “short board” problem, and is working to develop the strategic level “big early warning” system.

Source: Xinhua, December 18, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-12/18/content_10523193.htm

Russian magazine Arms Market published an article analyzing the situation of global market of multipurpose fighter plane during 2004-2013. The article says that global sale of multipurpose fighter planes will steadily increase in the next five years. The United States, Russia, and China will be the leading countries selling new fighter planes.
China’s rise to the third place is mainly due to its contract with Pakistan to provide 183 JF-17 “Thunder (Fierce Dragon)” fighter planes. In addition, other Asian and African countries who are China’s customers of traditional fighters are also potential new users of JF-17 “Thunder.” China’s new generation J-10 multipurpose fighter also has a high ratio of function/price. It is highly possible that J-10 will become a fierce competitor of U.S. and Russia’s third generation fighters in the global market.

Source: Xinhua, December 1, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-12/01/content_10437382.htm

Arms production and sales have been solely controlled by the military system in China. But the situation is about to change now. Over 100 private enterprises entered the production and sale of military arms, according to a report by PLA Daily. Wang Baohe, from Shaanxi, is probably the first such private “arms dealer.” Wang developed a light wheeled tank which became a key piece of equipment for the Chinese engineer battalion of the U.N. peace-keeping missions it has joined. It also exported the tanks to eight countries through financial aid programs. Wang could start the business because the “Directives of PLA Arms Purchase” issued in October 2002 proposed to establish a coordinated army and civil arm production system.

Source: PLA Daily, November 20, 2008 http://www.chinamil.com.cn/site1/xwpdxw/2008-11/20/content_1555026.htm

Xinhua published an analytical article speculating the policy changes when Obama swears to the office. The article includes three sections: 1) U.S. defense budget will continue to increase; 2) Withdraw from Iraq and increase military in Afghanistan; 3) Military strategy of moving toward East will not Change. In the third section, the article says, “During Bush administration, U.S. emphasizes to move the military Eastwards, adjust military presence in Korea and Japan, enhance military force in the Territory of Guam, actively working on the military base in Central Asian countries. American’s such strategy has the deep meaning of “working on” China. The article continues: “From Obama’s public statements during election, he does not have strong words on China. But he also said that China is neither enemy nor friend, but a competing opponent. This reflected his view on China.” The article concludes, “In reality, the ‘China Threat’ in U.S. has deep political background, the situation will not change as the national leaders change. It can be predicted that once Obama takes the office, he will possibly make no changes in the aspect of militarily encircling China. U.S. military will continue to have actions in Asian pacific area.”

Source: Xinhua, November 12, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-11/12/content_10344578.htm

China is planning to launch 12 satellites in 2009 as part of Big Dipper Satellite Navigation & Position System (BDSNPS), aiming to provide basic services to domestic and neighboring regions, said Ran Chengqi, deputy head of National Center of Satellite Navigation Project (NCSNP), at a conference on October 28.

BDSNPS was born in 2000. The dozen new satellites, adding onto its current five, is a major step toward a final complete system of 30+ satellites. Ran claimed that the system aims to expand services around the globe.

According to Xinhua, China started its R&D on satellite navigation in 1994, following US, Russia, and Europe.

Source: Xinhua, October 28
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/28/content_10267364.htm

Tiangong 1 is a "target vehicle" of China, which is planned to be launched after Shenzhou 7 and before Shenzhou 8. According to China National Space Administration (CNSA), it will be an eight ton "space laboratory module", and it is planned that Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 will dock with Tiangong 1 in two years (which is also its lifespan in design) after the launching of the latter to form China’s first space station.

Source: The Beijing News, September 30, 2008
http://www.thebeijingnews.com/news/guonei/2008/09-30/008@015548.htm

Xinhua published a series of articles in the past few days defending the increases in China’s defense budget and further elaborating on how China feels about the speculation from the West over the lack of transparency in the defense budget.

One of the articles cited: “There is an unwritten rule that exists among US intelligent agencies that China’s publicized defense budget only accounts for half or one third of the actual spending. Therefore, the more information we share, more speculation it would bring. … Apparently, China’s defense budget has become their targeted topic.”

On September 5, Japan issued the 2008 Defense White Paper, in which, it named China for lack of transparency in its military spending.

Source: Xinhua, September 9, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-09/09/content_9872294.htm

An article from Global Times criticized Jane’s Information Group for hyping the “China Threat” theory in its recently published report.  The report has predicted that China was to grow to be the largest weapons exporting country in the world. The article claimed that the military expense quoted by Jane’s Information Group was overstated without any support. It said that some western countries have never trusted the 2007 White Paper that China submitted. The article also said that the US needs to take the blame for over-hyping the “China Threat” theory. In the mean time, China will continue to grow its military power regardless of the speculations, cited the article.

Source:
Xinhua, September 7, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-09/07/content_9820428.htm
Jane’s Industry Quarterly – China, India and Russia In The Changing Global Defence Market, September 3, 2008
http://www.janes.com/media/releases/pc080903_1.shtml