China's Defense/Military Breaking News Thread

[Schumacher]

Good to see they're coming up with various new approaches to bridge the gaps between the 2 sides. In this case, a retired military commanders get together.

US and China to meet in bid to cut tensions

By Victor Mallet, Asia Editor

Published: February 20 2008 22:19 | Last updated: February 20 2008 22:19

Nine retired senior military commanders from the US and China will meet behind closed doors on the Chinese island of Hainan on Thursday in a drive to reduce tensions between the two powers, the Financial Times has learned.

Organisers of the three-day meeting – approved by government ministers in Washington and Beijing and financed largely by businesspeople trying to improve US-China relations – believe it is the highest such informal encounter between military experts of the two countries.

Participants say the experienced military commanders, some of whom retired only in the past two years and have stayed in frequent contact with their successors, will be able to discuss problems more frankly and productively than their active service counterparts. The gathering begins at a resort hotel in Sanya on Thursday on the anniversary of US President Richard Nixon’s historic trip to China in 1972 to meet Chairman Mao Zedong and normalise diplomatic relations.

Those who paid for the meeting include Vincent Mai, chairman of AEA Investors; Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, chief executive of CV Starr; and the foundation of Tung Chee-hwa, the former Hong Kong chief executive.

Bill Owens, a retired four-star admiral and former vice-chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, leads the US delegation of four senior ex-commanders. The Chinese group of five generals is headed by Mr Owens’ counterpart, Xiong Guangkai, a former military intelligence commander who was deputy chief of the general staff in China for a decade.

“There is this great passion for trying to find ways to bring the countries together as friends,” Mr Owens, now chief executive of private equity group AEA Investors Asia, told the FT. “Hopefully this will be the beginning of something, not the end.”

One topic of discussion at the meetings, some of which will be held on a fishing boat, is likely to be the risk of conflict in the Taiwan Strait. China has threatened to seize by force the is*land of Taiwan, which enjoys de facto independence, if it secedes.

Since the Nixon visit, the US has maintained a “One China” policy, but it also supports Taiwan and provides it with weapons. US officials say Chinese planners have been devising ways of denying the US Seventh Fleet access to the area in the event of war. Another concern is the militarisation of space.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

"FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy | Terms
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2008.

 

[Ryz05]

Recent news from

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

"Type03 300mm MRL finally enters service in large number"
I guess the PLA might have chosen this over the WS-2 and possibly the A-100.

From Norinco's offical website.
China Imported 80 BMD-3 Airborne IFV in 1996

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

This is something new. The PLA has the ZLC2000 now, but why are there no pictures of BMD-3 Airborne IFV in China?

Another good news site with daily pictures

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Notice that the PLA is fielding the upgraded Type 86 alongside the upgraded Type 59 in Nanjing. I guess it's a place where heavy armor is not a priority.

Recent news from PLA daily:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

It seems like the new Beijing jeep is in service and steadily replacing the BJ2020S or Soviet UAZ469B copy.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

JFQ issue on Chinese military

 

[RedMercury]

Type 03 is the A-100.

ZLC2000 was design finalized in 2000 (hence name), so in 1996 China did not have an airborne IFV. It may have been a stop gap measure, or an acquisition for study.

 

[PrOeLiTeZ]

During the 90's era China had just begun to modernise its armed forces, in all fields. Its lack in capable IFV was one of the issues needing to be addressed and so imported IFV from Russia was a mid term solution until its domestic industry could come up with an adequate solution. Its clear that domestic IFV China has is influenced by the imported BMD-3.

And to answer your question about why their isnt any pictures of these vehciles, well possibility that these weren't meant for service but moreso for analysing, roadtesting and etc...

 

[Ryz05]

Type 03 is the A-100.

PHL03 is the Type 03, and it's not the same as the A-100. Type 03 has better range and comes with 12 tubes, not 10 like the A-100, and it's developed by NORINCO, not CALT.

As to the BMD-3, it's hard to believe none entered service when 80 were delivered. Could all of them have been used for tests? If so, then the reportedly ordered 50 SU-33's could all be used for tests and study as well. Also, the ZLC2000 doesn't look anything like the BMD-3, but maybe the similarities are more noticeable on the inside.

 

[Skywatcher]

Maybe the BMD-3s have gone to the same place as the T-80s that were supposedly ordered in the 90s? (Sold to a third party, perhaps?)

 

[Norfolk]

A few articles via LexisNexis News:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, by David Lague, The International Herald Tribune, March 5, 2008 Wednesday:

China announced a further sharp increase in military spending Tuesday, as the United States renewed its warning that a lack of transparency surrounding the rapid buildup of the Chinese armed forces posed a threat to stability.

China's military budget for 2008 would increase by 17.6 percent to 417.77 billion yuan, or $58.8 billion, Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the Chinese Parliament, the National People's Congress, said at a news conference.

This follows a 17.8 percent increase announced in 2007.

Ahead of the annual parliamentary session, which begins Wednesday, Jiang also said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait was ''grim and complex'' and called on the Taiwanese president, Chen Shui- bian, to halt what Beijing describes as moves toward independence.

More at the link.

Coming on the heels of the annual DoD report to Congress that panzerkom so kindly provided the link to the other day, these news reports follow the by now routine act of Western suspicion and PRC secretiveness coming together to stoke fears on both sides - fears that are not without foundation, either.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, by Satoshi Saeki, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), March 6, 2008 Thursday:

China has recorded double-digit growth of its military expenditure over the past two decades, with the country accelerating independent development of military equipment, while also purchasing high-tech Russian weapons. The development focuses on information technology, space capabilities, air and naval forces power and nuclear weapons.

The growth in military expenditure is attributed not only to the country's preparation for a possible emergency in the Taiwan Strait, but also is believed to be based on China's strategy to counter the forward deployment of U.S. forces in East Asia.

At the beginning of this year, a group of top leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, celebrated the positive outcome of a priority project being conducted by the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) and encouraged its employees to redouble their efforts, according to the Chinese media.

More at the link. The AWACS story is what especially catches my attention here; when the President himself parties on because a key aviation development project is successfull, then it's obviously a development of some consequence. If, as the report alleges, this is the anticipated AWACS, then production of such an aircraft by China will alter the strategic balance in East Asia considerably.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, by Josephine Ma and Lawrence Chung, South China Morning Post, March 5, 2008 Wednesday:

"China's limited military capability is solely for the purpose of safeguarding independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will not pose a threat to any country."

The planned defence budget for this year was 417.77 billion yuan ($458HK.3 billion), up 62.38 billion yuan from the actual outlay last year, but 19.1 per cent higher than the figure announced in the 2007 budget.

Mr Jiang said the increase was needed to improve equipment, raise soldiers' benefits and for training and education.

Obviously modernization costs money, and higher-technology equipment cost, well, costs a lot more. Coupled to much-needed increases in pay and improvements in living conditions for the troops (not to mention considerably higher food and fuel costs), the PLA's dramatic increase in budgetary outlays is by no means a pure military-buildup. That said, even with rapidly rising costs, this is still a substantial increase in resources for the PLA, and it will be reflected in a considerable increase in China's military power.

 

[Skywatcher]

Volume production of the KJ-2000?

But where are they going to get the airframes? Cannibalize the transport fleet?

 

[crobato]

Volume production of the KJ-2000?

But where are they going to get the airframes? Cannibalize the transport fleet?

There are a lot of used IL-76s from airline plying the trade in Central Asia. Many of these fly to China to deliver passengers and bulk goods. I suspect compared to the first KJ-2000, which was derived directly from a military transport, the rest were converted off from civilian planes (one of the differences between the civil and the military version is the engines, the civil ones used the P-90 engine, and the military one uses the D-30.)

 

[King_Comm]

Obviously modernization costs money, and higher-technology equipment cost, well, costs a lot more. Coupled to much-needed increases in pay and improvements in living conditions for the troops (not to mention considerably higher food and fuel costs), the PLA's dramatic increase in budgetary outlays is by no means a pure military-buildup. That said, even with rapidly rising costs, this is still a substantial increase in resources for the PLA, and it will be reflected in a considerable increase in China's military power.

Note that China's military expenditure as a percentage of the GDP is still lower than the other 4 members of the security council (figure from SIPRI), and the military spending dropped on an average of 5% a year between the late 70's to late 80's, so the double digit growth in military spending is more of making up for the past neglect rather than a major expansion.