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China Rears Its Head Charles R. Smith China demonstrated its irresponsible and dangerous behavior over the last month.
The first example was a dangerous move by the Chinese navy, placing one of its Song class submarines directly behind the U.S. aircraft carrier Kittyhawk.
According to Admiral Fallon, the submarine incident could have led to shooting. However, China has done this kind of thing before. A People's Liberation Army (PLA) report from the Office of the Central Military Commission noted that China moved its submarines into a first strike mode in March 1996.
"During last crisis across the Taiwan Straits, the U.S. tried to blackmail us with their aircraft carrier(s), but when their spy satellites confirmed that our four nuclear submarines which used to be stationed at Lushun Harbor had disappeared, those politicians addicted to the Taiwan card could not imagine how worried their military commanders were," states the official 1999 report from the Chinese Army.
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"We have built up the capability for the second and the third nuclear strikes and are fairly confident in fighting a nuclear war. The PCC [Party's Central Committee] has decided to pass through formal channels this message to the top leaders of the U.S.," states the report.
China also recently revealed a new version of its FH-7 naval strike bomber. The twin-engine supersonic bomber appeared at the recent Zhuhai air show in early November. The new version of the FH-7 was equipped with folding wings. The folding wing design is required to save space for aircraft stored on carriers.
The suggestion of the Chinese naval investment in a carrier based aircraft design, along with the recent purchase of two squadrons of a naval SU-27 Flanker jet fighters from Russia, indicates that China is close to deploying its first aircraft carrier.
The increase in Chinese naval assets now included the world's largest force of submarines and a growing fleet of modern surface warships.
The Chinese navy is expected to deploy an aircraft carrier, and a new ballistic missile submarine capable of striking the United States with nuclear warheads.
Another item of interest on sale at the recent Zhuhai air show is the QW-18 shoulder fired surface-to-air missile. The QW-18 is described in Chinese literature as having "the strongest anti-jamming capability in present similar models."
The anti-jamming capability is available during "the whole course before and after the missile is launched."
Another man-portable surface-to-air missile on display is the QW-11.
The QW-11 was developed specifically to counter cruise missiles while retaining the ability to engage low-flying targets such as helicopters, fighters, and ground attack aircraft.
These new classes of inexpensive man portable missiles have been introduced only months after U.S. law enforcement authorities broke up a smuggling ring trying to sell Chinese surface-to-air missiles to terrorists for use against civilian airliners inside America.
The ring included an unnamed Chinese General who was the source of these missiles for sale to any terrorist with money.
The U.S. has not been the only nation to feel the love coming from Beijing.
The Chinese ambassador to India, Sun Yuxi, raised a political storm in New Delhi by announcing China's claim to Arunachal Pradesh.
The claim to Indian territory came on the eve of president Hu Jintao's visit to India.
The Chinese ambassador, in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN said, "In our position, the whole of Arunachal Pradesh is Chinese territory and Tawang is only one place in it. We are claiming whole of that [Arunachal Pradesh]. That is our position."
India, for its part, reacted sharply to the comments.
"Arunachal is an integral part of India and it is known the respective position of the countries with regards Arunachal," stated Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Arunachal Pradesh Governor S.K. Singh also commented on the Chinese ambassador's claims, stating that it was an "arrogant." "This is an arrogant way of negotiation from China. It's very inappropriate for an ambassador to make such a comment. Chinese have done this before; it is an odd way," stated Singh.
China and India fought a bloody 1926 war over the barren and icy terrain located on the Tibetan plateau.
All of this aggressive behavior has not gone unnoticed. The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan committee, said in its 2007 annual report that China had contributed at least indirectly to North Korea's nuclear weapons program and aided Iran's atomic activities.
The commission noted, "Chinese proliferation threatens U.S. security and potentially could place at risk U.S. troops" operating in East Asia and the Middle East.
The commission recommended that current sanctions against Chinese companies that proliferate equipment and technology related to weapons of mass destruction should be "broadened and harmonized for increased effectiveness."
"Chinese companies and government organizations continue to proliferate weapons, weapons components and weapons technology," the report stated.
"Some of these transfers violate China's international nonproliferation agreements, harm regional security in East Asia and the Middle East, and are a measure of China's failure to meet the threshold test of international responsibility in the area of nonproliferation," stated the commission of Democrats and Republicans.
Editor's note:
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