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China Is U.S.' Greatest Threat Charles R. Smith The Pentagon has issued its latest report on Chinese military power and the picture painted by U.S. defense analysts is not a pretty one. China is using its massive trade imbalance with the United States to build-up the People's Liberation Army (PLA) into an advanced, super-power military force. The leading edge of the PLA is the Second Artillery Corps, the unit charged with carrying nuclear war onto American soil. The Second Artillery has recently enhanced its long range ballistic missile strike force with the addition of a new, and deadly accurate nuclear tipped missile, the Dong Feng 31. "China is modernizing its longer-range ballistic missile force by adding more survivable systems. The road-mobile, solid-propellant DF-31 intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM) achieved initial threat availability in 2006 and will likely achieve operational status in the near future, if it has not already done so. A longer range variant, the DF-31A, is expected to reach initial operational capability (IOC) in 2007," notes the Pentagon 2007 report.
The DF-31 is initially armed with a single H-bomb warhead with the explosive power equal to 3 million tons of TNT. Follow on versions of the DF-31 have already been tested using multiple warheads and the newer DF-31A is expected to be fielded with 3 nuclear bombs, each capable of striking an individual city target with an estimated explosive power of over 100,000 tons of TNT. The Chinese navy is also acquiring its own version of the DF-31, called the Julang 2. The JL-2 is expected to arm China's newest ballistic missile submarine which has already been launched and is being tested now. The JL-2 can strike any city inside the U.S. homeland if fired from within 1000 miles of the U.S. coast. "China is also working on a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, the JL-2 (IOC 2007-2010), for deployment on a new JIN-class (type 094) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, also in development," states the Pentagon report. "By 2010, China's strategic nuclear forces will likely comprise a combination of enhanced CSS-4s; CSS-3s; CSS-5s; solid-fueled, road-mobile DF-31s (which achieved initial threat availability in 2006, and will likely achieve operational status in the near future, if it has not already done so), and DF-31A ICBMs (expected IOC in 2007); and the JL-1 and JL-2 SLBMs (expected IOC between 2007-10). The addition of the DF-31 family of missiles and the JL-2 and JIN-class SSBNs will give China a more survivable and flexible nuclear force." China is not neglecting its conventional arms in the event of conflict with America. In fact, the pace and capability of Chinese conventional weapons acquisition is breathtaking.
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According to the Pentagon report, China is building capacity for conventional precision strike Short-Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBMs). According to DIA estimates, as of October 2006 the PLA had roughly 900 short range missiles and is increasing its inventory at a rate of more than 100 missiles per year. China is also acquiring large numbers of Medium-Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBMs). The PLA is fielding conventional medium range missiles such as the improved DF-21 to increase the range to which it can conduct precision strikes, and use them to attack naval ships such as U.S. carrier battle groups. China has developed a new series of Land-Attack Cruise Missiles (LACMs) and air launched cruise missiles (ALCMs). China is fielding the new cruise missiles for stand-off, precision strike capability against hard-targets located in Japan, Taiwan, India, and South Korea. China is also pursing an aggressive plan to acquire large numbers of anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs). The PLA navy has or is purchasing nearly a dozen varieties of anti-ship missiles, from the 1950s-era CSS-N-2/STYX to the modern Russian-made SS-N-22/SUNBURN and SS-N-27B/SIZZLER. China is fielding large numbers of anti-radiation weapons designed to home in and destroy radar sites. The PLA has imported Israeli-made HARPY UCAVs and Russian-made ant radiation missiles, and is developing an anti-radiation missile based on the Russian Kh-31P (AS-17) known domestically as the YJ-91. Recent photos released by the Chinese air force show the YJ-91 being fired by advanced super-sonic strike aircraft. The Pentagon report also noted that China's recent test of an anti-satellite missile "poses dangers to human space flight and puts at risk the assets of all space faring nations." The aggressive and provocative test by the Chinese military is clearly part of Beijing's intentions to deny every nation on earth — other than itself — with access to space. According to the Pentagon report, China has historically claimed that any use of space to image its soil is a threat to its security. "In 2006, several independent researchers used a U.S.-based commercial imagery service provider's archive of overhead imagery to identify several Chinese military-related facilities including a submarine base, a facility that appeared to replicate a contested portion of the Sino-Indian border, and a mock Taiwan airfield. "Shortly after the publication of these studies, Chinese state-run media in August 2006 claimed that foreign map makers had illegally surveyed Chinese territory and threatened China's security," notes the Pentagon report. "The (Chinese) article referenced China's 2002 Surveying and Mapping Law and quoted the PRC State Bureau of Survey and Mapping as stating that ‘foreigners who illegally survey, gather, and publish geographical information on China will be severely punished.' This sequence of events may indicate that China is attempting to lay the groundwork to extend the concept of the ‘information blockade' into space." China has not only laid claim to all of outer space but to huge tracks of land on earth. China continues to pursue territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea, with India along their shared border, and with Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea. For example, India and China have been engaged in efforts to improve their ties after their brief but bitter border war in 1962. China currently occupies large portions of Kashmir and claims huge tracks of territory in India's northeast known as Arunachal Pradesh. "Although China has attempted to prevent these disputes from disrupting regional relations, occasional statements by PRC officials underscore China's resolve in these areas. For example, on the eve of President Hu's historic October 2006 visit to India, PRC Ambassador Sun Yuxi told Indian press, "the whole of what you call the state of Arunachal Pradesh is Chinese territory . . . we are claiming all of that — that's our position." China continues to ignore calls by India to settle the disputes over territory. In fact, a diplomatic spat between China and India recently developed because China is refusing to work with New Delhi. India has canceled plans to send 107 bureaucrats to Beijing and Shanghai. The trip was called off after China refused a visa to an officer from Arunachal Pradesh state "on the grounds that he was Chinese and therefore did not need one." According to the Pentagon report, China is likely to strike first during armed conflict. Despite claims to the contrary, China has a long history of striking first. "The history of modern Chinese warfare is replete with cases in which China's leaders have claimed military pre-emption as a strategically defensive act. For example, China refers to its intervention in the Korean War (1950-1953) as the War to Resist the United States and Aid Korea," noted the Pentagon report. "Similarly, authoritative texts refer to border conflicts against India (1962), the Soviet Union (1969), and Vietnam (1979) as ‘Self-Defense Counter Attacks.' This logic suggests the potential for China to engage in military preemption, perhaps far from its borders, if the use of force protects or advances core interests, including territorial claims (e.g., Taiwan and unresolved border or maritime claims)." Finally, the report concludes that China continues its war of espionage against America and her allies. "China continues a systematic effort to obtain from abroad through legal and illegal commercial transactions dual-use and military technologies. Many dual-use technologies, such as software, integrated circuits, computers, electronics, semiconductors, telecommunications, and information security systems, are vital for the PLA's transformation into an information-based, networkcentric force," states the report. "Several high profile legal cases highlight China's efforts to obtain sensitive U.S. technologies [e.g., missile, imaging, semiconductor, and submarine] illegally by targeting well-placed scientists and businessmen. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have rated China's aggressive and wide-ranging espionage as the leading threat to U.S. technology. Since 2000, ICE has initiated more than 400 investigations involving the illicit export of U.S. arms and technologies to China."
In summary, the report shows that China is the leading threat to America — now and into the future. The current U.S./China trade imbalance is financing a war machine aimed directly at us. The range and spectrum of aggressive Chinese military power will have to be dealt with sooner or later. How long we continue to feed the dragon at our doorstep is a question that perhaps will come too soon or too late to save us.
Editor's note:
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