China has a wide variety of ballistic and hypersonic missiles that can deal with runways, ports and other high value targets.
But what about Low Value Targets? PLAAF needs cheap expendable platform that can round-trip Japan and renovate it from the sky. PLAAF missiles already got range, speed and precision against expensive American carriers. What they lack is volume cheap enough to throw at every bridge, train station, warehouse, factory, transformer, school, hospital and shopping mall. Missiles are expensive. Are you really going fire $10m+ Dongfengs at every Soapland suspected of being the Japanese PM's hideout?
