China Prepares

[Geee]

American Spectator:

It may be a bit unfair to Chinese technical competence, but there is good reason to track the spurt of China's current military sophistication to the Clinton Administration's sale of Cray supercomputers to Beijing in the 1990s. (Paralleled, of course, by the PRC's accelerated program of technical secret stealing during the same period and later.) In any event, Chinese strategic weapon development now seeks to arrive at a point where it can challenge American superiority. Whether China can attain its objective in any reasonable future is the question.

Signs of growing Chinese military capability came about again only a few months ago when the latest generation of the Dong Feng 21 D missile was recognized as operational. U.S. Navy estimates place this medium-range land-to-sea missile as being accurate up to 900 miles. This has been referred to as a carrier-killer weapon that is aimed to counter U.S. Navy domination of East Asian waters. One development such as this doesn't have the ability, in itself, to alter the balance of power in this portion of the Pacific, but it can present a new and important factor in threatening the defense of Taiwan.
Beijing's enhanced missile capacity is only part of a series of weapon systems that China is in the process of developing -- most of which reflects a belief in its need to counter U.S. influence in the Pacific regions. Beijing's strategy is centered on the development of a "blue water" operational strength. Just how "blue" really depends on how the Peoples' Liberation Army – Navy (PLAN) sees its role. Its prime considerations are maintaining and increasing their offensive ability to attack Taiwan and on the defensive side to protect China's oil pipeline from the Middle East.