The Obama administration has decided to terminate the suspensions of issuance of temporary munitions export licenses for exports regarding C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft that will be used in oil spill response operations at sea that might involve the People’s Republic of China (PRC). That’s bureaucratese for lifting restrictions on the …
With their meeting in Hanoi, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie are expected to revive military-to-military relations between the two major powers, on hold since the sale of U.S. arms to Taiwan at the beginning of this year. Yet, recent reports indicate that there …
After a very protracted gestation and calls from Congress for its release, DOD today finally unveiled the latest report on China’s military capabilities, as called for under the FY 2000 National Defense Authorization Act. What is surprising in this report of some 83 pages is how little of its content …
Earlier this week, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) this week inaugurated “Vanguard-2010,” a series of air defense exercises involving a variety of units from the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), but also the PLA Navy (PLAN). The exercises, as described in the Chinese press, will include fighter bombers, strike aircraft, …
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was at the Shangri-La Dialogue (aka the Asia Security Summit), and according to The Washington Post, he has engaged in sharp exchanges with the Chinese participants. Who was Gates’ interlocutor at Shangri-La? None other than People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Major General Zhu Chenghu, who …
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 …
