【AP】China military spotlighted in national day parade

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China military spotlighted in national day parade

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOdm0fwkHlT_TzSkN9LxYK-vMopwD9AMH8L84

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN(AP)–1 day ago


BEIJING — China's biggest military parade in a decade will show offan army bristling with formidable new capabilities and deliver a potentmessage to the U.S. and others not to underestimate Beijing'sdetermination to defend its interests at home and abroad.

Themilitary display is expected to be the centerpiece of a grandioseparade through Beijing on Oct. 1 to celebrate the 60th anniversary ofthe founding of the People's Republic. A preview rumbled through theChinese capital a week ago, giving an excited citizenry and foreignmilitary analysts a first-time glimpse at some cutting-edge weaponry.

Upgradedintercontinental DF-31 nuclear missiles capable of striking Washingtonrolled on long-bed trucks along with advanced short-range DF-11 andDF-15 missiles, sea-skimming YJ-83 anti-ship missiles and DH-10long-range cruise missiles — intended to strike targets in rival Taiwanand deter the U.S. Navy from coming to the island's defense. Not seenin the preview but expected to appear in a fly-over above TiananmenSquare are domestically produced J-10 jet fighters.

The advancedequipment is the fruit of a 20-year military buildup fueled by annualdouble-digit percentage increases in defense spending and buoyed byrapid economic growth that has enabled the government to spend lavishly.

TheCommunist leadership's willingness to put so much equipment on publicdisplay reflects its growing faith in the People's Liberation Army'scapabilities and its belief that the defense muscle will translate intonew strength for Beijing internationally.

"The exercise is aimedat not only showing the Chinese people some of the symbols of China'snew great power status, but also showing foreigners that policies basedon the presumption of Chinese weakness must be changed," said DennyRoy, an expert on the Chinese military at Hawaii's East-West Center.

Chiefamong Beijing's targets is U.S. support for Taiwan, the self-governingisland that China considers its own territory, and the Americanmilitary's continued naval and airborne surveillance missions off theChinese coast, Roy said. Japan, Vietnam and other nations withterritorial disputes with Beijing in the South China and East ChinaSeas are also likely audiences for the display of Chinese militarymight.

Officially, Beijing says the parade is nothing more than amove to boost patriotism and showcase the PLA's modernization drive —an explanation that fits with the oft-repeated government line that theChinese military buildup poses no threat to others. Chinese defensespending officially reached $71 billion this year, though analystsbelieve the actual figure is much higher. The spending is second to theU.S. but a fraction of American defense spending.

The parade will"demonstrate the positive image of China as a country seeking peacefuldevelopment," Senior Col. Guo Zhigang, a deputy commander of theevent's training camp, was quoted as saying by the official China Dailynewspaper.

Aside from armaments, the parade will featurethousands of goose-stepping troops from the PLA and the People's ArmedPolice, a paramilitary force whose mission is to quell domestic unrest,as they did in Tibet last year and Xinjiang this summer. President HuJintao is expected to review the assembled marchers, standing in anopen-top Red Flag limousine as his predecessors have.

Still, theevent marks a profound change from past decades when China shrouded itsrelative military weakness in secrecy. Despite being the world'slargest standing military with 2.3 million members, the PLA was longderided as under-equipped and underfunded. For decades, its plans toinvade Taiwan, when Beijing had little air or naval power, were mockedas the "million-man swim."

The paraded armaments will furtherfeed into an ongoing reassessment of Chinese military capabilities inWashington and other capitals, which began noticing the more muscularPLA earlier this decade. Aside from the hundreds of tanks, armoredpersonnel carriers and self-propelled artillery featured in last week'srehearsal, the plethora of missiles on display represented some ofBeijing's most advanced and potent weaponry, analysts said.

Theanti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles are capable of striking U.S.Navy aircraft carrier battle groups and bases in the Pacific, saidRussell Smith, a former Australian defense attache in Beijing and ananalyst with Jane's.

Among the less flashy but significantequipment likely to appear are those that give the PLA the ability tooperate far from home, something it has never had before. Expected inthe fly-over are Kongjing airborne warning and control planes thatgather and send intelligence to forces and Hong-6 bombers and tankersthat would allow Chinese fighters to refuel while in flight forlonger-range missions.

"Obviously, Taiwan and Japan are going tofeel this, and perhaps even U.S. forces in Guam, Okinawa, and perhapseven Hawaii," said Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at Singapore'sRajaratnam School of International Studies.

Foreign nations neednot be unduly alarmed by these new capabilities, but should "at leastbe very, very watchful," Bitzinger said.

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