Free Republic

"The Chinese are imposing a kind of sanction on us. They don't officially declare it, but they are delaying shipments to Israel.... In electronic products, there are tens of thousands of components, but if even one component doesn't arrive, we cannot deliver the product." — Unnamed senior figure in a factory, Ynet, December 24, 2023. Also immensely disturbing is that "massive" amounts of advanced Chinese military equipment were found in Gaza by the IDF during its military operations there. "[I]f you set up systems with technology for critical infrastructure, like electricity, energy, water, transport, these are tied to one another....

There are stronger signs that China’s next aircraft carrier will be fitted with an advanced type of aircraft launch system, with official confirmation of a test flight of a carrier-based early warning plane. State broadcaster CCTV confirmed in a report on the weekend that the KJ-600, the country’s first domestically developed fixed-wing early warning aircraft, had a test flight in Xian, Shaanxi province, in late January. The KJ-600 is designed to operate from an aircraft carrier but its weight and turboprop engines make it less powerful than a jet, requiring help from a catapult for take-off. China has two aircraft...

... China’s programme to build a Navy and formulate its doctrine was initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1979. The pace of construction of warships and submarines picked up in the past decade. By 2000, China had a Navy of 19 large surface combatants and 63 small surface combatants like frigates and corvettes. Construction was accelerated and in 2016 alone the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) commissioned 18 warships, including destroyers, corvettes and guided missile frigates. The PLAN plans to have a total of 60 “light missile frigates” in its inventory, with one missile frigate to be launched every three weeks.

Introduction: For the last 14 years I have produced an annual review of the buildup and modernization of the Chinese Navy, the People's Liberation Army Navy, or "PLAN" as it is called. At the time these reviewws started, the PLAN was just embarking on producing more mordern vessels, and had acquired a carrier, the old Soviet Varyag, which was the second in their Kuznetsov class, but which was sitting unfinished in Ukraine due to the fall of the Soviet Union. The Chinese indicated at the time that they were buying it through a private company to make it into...

<p>China is set to install "a few thousand" troops and staff at its first ever overseas military base, the first permanent overseas deployment by Chinese armed forces.</p> <p>The new naval facility will sit in the same city as America's own sprawling African military headquarters in Djibouti, the Horn of Africa country where the US has a 4,500-strong base running counter-terrorism operations across the region. Japan, which also has its only overseas military base in Djibouti, already faces a tense stand-off with China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.</p>

China Is Playing 'Chicken' With US Warships In The South China Sea GlobalPost Benjamin Carlson, GlobalPost Jan. 30, 2014, 7:51 AM HONG KONG — As anyone who has seen “Rebel Without a Cause” knows, playing chicken is dangerous for California teenagers in hot-rods. But playing chicken with warships, cruisers, and fighter jets — well, that’s just another level of crazy. Unfortunately, vessels from the US military and from other countries increasingly find themselves in such high-stakes confrontations on the East Asian seas, where China has adopted a strategy of making rivals flinch or risk collision. Just this week, Chinese sailors...

Central News Agency 2014/01/04 22:22:10 In-Depth Coverage Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) China's most advanced fighter jet J-16 has been revealed online in flight mode, the latest in a series of news items on developments in the Chinese military since last November. An image of the J-16, a 3.5-generation multi-role twin-seat fighter jet, was posted on the China-based Dingsheng military website Friday along with other types of Chinese fighter jets, such as the J-11 and J-15. The J-16 jet shown online was believed to be a prototype of the jet fighter because it carries the serial number '1601.' It marked the...

Beijing responds to speculation in SIPRI nuclear weapons report Beijing hopes the outside world will not make wild guesses about China's limited nuclear capacity, and believes that countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should bear the primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a daily news briefing on Monday. He was speaking in response to a newly released report from a Sweden-based think tank, which stated that China has added 10 nuclear warheads to its stockpile, bringing its total to 250. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released the report on Monday, saying China,...

THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA - 2012 UPDATE By Jeff Head - Last Update: June 15, 2012 (Click on any image for a larger picture) 2011 has seen significant increases in major combatant shipbuilding by the PLAN across the board. From the PLA Navy's first carrier being launched and sent to sea for trials, to continued testing and production of J-15 fighters for that carrier's airwing, to the increased tempo of serial production of the PLAN's Type 071 LPD, the Yuzhao Class (with a second and third unit launched and a fourth being built), to increased serial production...

In many fields of international competition, China is less sanguine about its abilities than outsiders. Chinese leaders often remind Westerners that China is a developing country, with hundreds of millions of people living in poverty, an unbalanced economy, and high social tensions. What should most worry Beijing, and provide some comfort to those who fear Chinese military expansionism, is the state of corruption in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). True, the world underestimated how quickly a four-fold jump in Chinese military spending in the past decade would deliver an array of new weaponry to prevent the United States from interfering...

The United States has underestimated the growth of China's military as policymakers have taken public statements at face value or failed to understand Beijing's thinking, a study said Thursday. The report prepared for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the United States had a mixed record on predicting the rising power's new weaponry, including largely missing the emergence of more advanced submarines. As for the speed of military modernization, the study found "identifiable cases of miscalculation" with China developing anti-ship ballistic missiles and stealth fighter-jets earlier than the United States expected.

China recently launched its first aircraft carrier. This has apparently prompted some in Washington to wonder, “Hey, what are they going to do with that?” As J.E. Dyer over at Hot Air points out, did the question really have to be asked? Yes it did: As China’s first aircraft carrier takes to the open seas today for its inaugural sea trials, the U.S. government directed a pointed question at the Chinese military: Why would you need a warship like that? “We would welcome any kind of explanation that China would like to give for needing this kind of equipment,” U.S....

Red Alert: China is sending misleading messages about its massive military buildup. Last week China’s Communist regime published the every-second-year edition of its defense white paper, “China’s National Defense in 2010,” which claims to promote transparency in its defense planning and deepen international trust, and asserts that its security policy is defensive in nature. But the paper’s messages are not supported by the facts. Consider five of the many misleading messages imbedded in the 30-page defense white paper. First, “China attaches great importance to military transparency,” the paper claims. The Pentagon takes issue with that view in a report, stating,...

China is expected to deploy military forces and bases in the Middle East in the coming decade as part of an effort to protect its access to valuable resources like oil, according to British specialist on the Middle East Patrick Seale. S Seale told participants in a conference in Jordan last month that Chinese trade with Arab states amounted to $132 billion in 2008 and that its influence in the region was growing. China remains heavily reliant on oil shipments from the Middle East, including Iran and Saudi Arabia and is developing a strategy known as the “string of pearls”...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - CIA chief Michael Hayden charged Wednesday that China was beefing up its military with "remarkable speed and scope," calling the buildup "troubling." The Chinese, he said, had fully absorbed the lessons of both Gulf wars, developing and integrating advanced weaponry into a modern military force. Hayden said while Beijing's new capabilities could pose a risk to US forces and interests in the region, the military modernization was as much about projecting strength as anything else.

(HONG KONG) -- China is flexing its military muscle by exhibiting a model and photos of its new DF31A intercontinental ballistic missile and type 093 nuclear attack submarine, or SSN, at the People's Liberation Army's 80th Anniversary exhibition held in Beijing. Also on exhibit are the DF21 intermediate-range ballistic missile and DF11 short-range ballistic missile. The DF31A ICBM photo has been released for the first time along with the new TEL truck. The range of the DF31A is said to be more than 10,000 kilometers, covering not only major U.S. and Canadian cities but also the capitals of the main...

India and China have decided to hold first ever Joint Army exercises aimed at developing bilateral military to military level confidence building measures

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The rapid rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a regional political and economic power with global aspirations is one of the principal elements in the emergence of East Asia, a region that has changed greatly over the past quarter of a century. China’s emergence has significant implications for the region and the world. The United States welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China, one that becomes integrated as a constructive member of the international community. But, we see a China facing a strategic crossroads. Questions remain about the basic choices China’s leaders will...

Vice minister of foreign affairs Wang Yi summoned Japanese ambassador to China, Koreshige Anami, and made a "formal representation" over Japan's reported leasing of three disputed isles in the East China Sea, state press said early Sunday. Xinhua news agency said Wang Saturday noted that the Diaoyu Islands -- also known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China -- and adjacent islets had been a part of China since ancient times. "Any unilateral action on the islands by the Japanese side is illegal and invalid, which China will not accept," Wang said. "The Chinese government and people have the...