Chinese CVA by 2010
China Says Aircraft Carrier Possible By 2010: Paper
By REUTERS, HONG KONG
China could build its first aircraft carrier by 2010 if current research and development proceeds smoothly, a Hong Kong newspaper quoted a Chinese general as saying on March 7. The Beijing-funded Wen Wei Po newspaper identified the source as a “zhong jiang,” meaning lieutenant general or vice admiral, depending on the service, and a member of the military delegation at a parliament session in Beijing. It did not give further details.
Experts say China’s military has been researching carriers for years as a way to protect its interests offshore, but there has been no formal admission of a program to build one.
Earlier this week, China announced a 17.8 percent rise in its official defense budget for 2007, to 350.92 billion yuan ($45.32 billion), continuing a trend of double-digit growth. Foreign experts say the real amount may be three or more times that.
China has been modernizing its military with an emphasis on naval and air power to strengthen its hand with regard to Taiwan and too also better protect its economic interests such as shipping lanes in the South China Sea.
Beijing says its military is only for defense, but the rapid upgrade of its capabilities in recent years has worried some in the region.
Ties between China and Taiwan have become increasingly strained recently as Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian raised Beijing’s ire with pro-independence comments. On Monday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said Beijing’s increasing defense spending threatened regional peace and upset the military balance in favor of China. Last month, a Japanese legislator warned that Japan could become a Chinese province “if something goes wrong in Taiwan in the next 15 years”.
The military buildup has been a source of friction with the United States, which is obliged under the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself.
China’s President Hu Jintao in December urged the building of a powerful Chinese navy that was prepared “at any time” for military struggle.....
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Navy: China Bolsters Ballistic Missile Subs
BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS
China is conducting sea trials of the first of five new nuclear-powered submarines armed with longer-range ballistic missiles, according to a U.S. naval intelligence report made public Friday. The sea trials are part of a broader push by China to check U.S. naval power in the western Pacific with a more modern fleet of nuclear-powered ballistic missile and attack submarines, the Office of Naval Intelligence said.
The first of the nuclear ballistic missile submarines, designated the Type 094 SSBN, could begin operating as early as 2008, ONI said. The submarine “will provide China with a modern and robust sea-based nuclear deterrent force,” the ONI reported. It will be equipped with the JL-2 sea-launched ballistic missile with range of 5,000 miles, a big gain over China’s only other ballistic missile submarine. The XIA SSBN, a 24-year-old nuclear powered vessel, is armed with the JL-1 missile, which has a range of 1,000 miles.
The ONI said China probably will build five of the new ballistic missile submarines “to provide more redundancy and capacity for a near-continuous at-sea SSBN presence.” “Construction and sea trials of the Type 094 program are ongoing,” ONI said.
The unclassified ONI report, which was obtained by AFP and has a question-and-answer format, was first reported by Sea Power magazine, then picked up by the Washington Times. It said China also is concluding sea trials of a new Type 093 nuclear-powered attack submarine that is expected to be quieter and armed with more advanced weaponry than its predecessor, the HAN SSN class submarines. It will have anti-ship cruise missiles and more modern torpedoes than the HAN, the report said.
“China has built these features into the Type 093 in an effort to improve the [Peoples Liberation Army Navy] to conduct anti-surface warfare at greater ranges from the Chinese coast than its diesel submarine force offers,” it said.