Gansu: Chinese army drills destroy Taiwan imitation

A Canada-based military news website got hold of high-resolution satellite photos that prove the existence of exact copies of the island on Chinese soil. But a Shanghai expert claimed this did not prove anything.

Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) – China’s People’s Liberation Army has built two facilities in the eastern province of Gansu that simulate a military air force base in Taiwan. The facilities are used for drills, a Canada-based military news website has reported.

The site – the Kanwa Defence Review – said high-resolution satellite photographs clearly showed the two facilities, set up near Dingxin airport in Jiayuguan . They are modelled to perfection on the Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taiwan. The site said: “It is a clear sign that the Chinese army has stepped up its preparation for military struggles against Taiwan.”

The photos also showed ruins made by simulated attacks against the facilities: the weapons appeared to be long-range TV-guided missiles similar to ones used by the Russian Red Army. “The photos show many other similar structures had already been constructed in the same place and then destroyed.”

But Liu Tong, a military expert at Shanghai Jiaotong University, said the photos “could not prove Taiwan was the target of the simulation strikes”. He said: "Liberating Taiwan is the task for Nanjing Military Area Command, it is not a matter for Gansu Area Command," he said.

“Anyhow, it is not unusual for our army to build simulation air bases but this does not mean anything.”

kanwa is canadian, what i mean is that it is run by canadians?? the last i heard, it was run by japanese and their info is questionable at the very best. and where is the photo?

Kanwa remains some kind of mystery to me since I heard rumours about this kanwa guy ´Andrei Pinkov´ who maintains that he himself is a russian of korean descent is in reality a fabrication of Taiwan intelligence.
Kanwa magazine (see also their website kanwa.com but watch out: You have to pay!) is a professional and glossy bilangual (Chinese/English, website also japanese) publication with a clear pro Taiwan/US/Japan bias. Sometimes Kanwa´s information is accurate and ´Pinkov´ seems to be indeed an expert about russia´s defence industries. Without doubt Kanwa´s articles about PLA deals with Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are mostly correct but the whole publication seems to be targeted at western/japanese (perhaps even russian) military and business personnel who may be interested in Taiwan as a weapons or tech customer.

Nevertheless the mag is quite a nice read (e.g. in Hongkong you can buy it in some of the better bookshops!) but it´s background seems rather murky to me.

May be some of our taiwanese or canadian members know more ??:coffee: