Admiral Yin Zhuo of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) this week declared that China has an interest in Arctic exploration. Although China has no direct access to the Arctic, this did not dissuade the Admiral, who claimed that no one had sovereignty over the region. Admiral Yin was last heard making the argument that the PRC should establish a permanent base in the Gulf of Aden area, in order to support Chinese anti-piracy operations.
The PRC announced this past week that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) budget would increase by about 7.5% in 2010. This marks the first time that the PLA budget has had an increase of less than 10% in nearly a decade. But don’t jump the gun. It is far from clear that it represents anything with implications for China’s long-term challenge to US predominance in the Asia Pacific. Chinese defense spending figures are notoriously unreliable, important more for the political signals they send than actual spending. The scale of the …
With the public release of a US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report on Taiwan’s air power, there is now a public US government assessment of Taiwan’s ability to fend off Chinese attack. And while the report does not directly state how well Taiwan would do against the PLA, there is little reason for optimism under current conditions. Three of the four aircraft in the Taiwan air force inventory are problematic: its F-5s are reaching the end of their operational life; the Ching-Kuo Indigenous Defense Fighter has limited ability to sustain high …
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) this month has been trying to threaten the U.S. economically. However, their plan could actually harm China, not America. Many, many Chinese see reunification with Taiwan as a deep emotional issue. But much of the PLA sees it as a way to pad the military budget. Any attention to Taiwan has Chinese generals demanding some sort of strong action or another, while naturally observing that the controversy justifies more money for them. This happened again with the recent announcement by the Obama Administration that it will provide limited arms to Taiwan. The …
In the course of an eventful week, the People’s Republic of China has had a chance to display the full range of modern capabilities that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is acquiring. At one end, on January 11, the Chinese announced that they had successfully engaged in a mid-course interception of a missile. While the Chinese have not been forthcoming with much information about the test, including the type of interceptor, the target, or the location of the test, the test, which has been confirmed by the US DOD, puts …
