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American Military News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
Chinese weapons gain credibility after Pakistan-India conflict
The recent conflict between India and Pakistan is prompting a reassessment of Chinese weapons, challenging long-held perceptions of their inferiority to Western arms and sparking concern in places wary of Beijing. Pakistan hailed the use of its Chinese J-10Cs to shoot down five Indian fighters, including French-made Rafale aircraft, last week in response to Indian military strikes. Although the reports haven't been confirmed, and India hasn't commented, the jet's maker saw its market capitalization soar by over 55 billion yuan ($7.6 billion), or more than a fourth, by the end of last week. Hu Xijin, the ex-editor-in-chief of China's nationalist tabloid Global Times, warned on social media that if Pakistan's successful strikes were true, Taiwan should feel 'even more scared.' Beijing sees the self-ruled democracy as its own, and reserves the right to use military force to bring it under control. Taiwan closely watched the clash between Pakistan and India, according to Shu Hsiao-Huang, an associate research fellow at the Institute of National Defense and Security Research, a government-funded military think tank based in Taipei. 'We may need to reassess the PLA's air combat capabilities, which may be approaching — or even surpassing — the level of U.S. air power deployments in East Asia,' Shu said, adding Washington might want to consider selling more advanced systems to Taiwan. While President Xi Jinping has been trying to modernize the world's biggest military by the number of active personnel, the People's Liberation Army has been mired in scandals. That had raised questions about the combat-readiness of its powerful and secretive Rocket Force, which is responsible for conventional missiles and would play a crucial role in any invasion of Taiwan. The reported success of J-10Cs, which have had few battle tests and are used to patrol the Taiwan Strait, appears to counter those doubts. It's still uncertain, however, how they would fare against U.S. fighters such as the F-16, which make up the bulk of Taiwan's jets and have been combat-proven across decades and militaries. Another Chinese weapon Pakistan uses will also be coming under intense scrutiny by Beijing's adversaries. Parts of Chinese air-to-air PL-15 missiles found in India after the reported shoot-downs suggest the weapons, deployed on Pakistan's J-10C aircraft, proved effective in their first known combat use. With a top speed above Mach 5, the PL-15 is a rival to Western air-to-air missiles. China is the world's fourth-largest arms exporter but its customers are mostly developing nations like Pakistan that have limited funds. The latest developments could bolster Beijing's sales pitch as major economies from Europe to Asia heed President Donald Trump's call to ramp up defense spending. 'There is a good chance the weapons systems China is able to offer will be even more appealing to potential buyers' especially in the Global South, said James Char, assistant professor of the China Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, noting the J-10C is not even China's most advanced jet. Buying weapons has also become a focus for developing nations, mulling U.S. arms purchases to appease Trump and his demands to reduce American trade imbalances. Several of these countries list China as a top trading partner and could consider hedging bets by acquiring systems from the Asian country, too. China's overseas arms sales have been growing, with its five-year average weapons exports more than tripling in 2020-2024 from 2000-2004, according to calculations based on data from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Chinese government and state-owned enterprises do not disclose data on arms exports. Some of the largest state-owned players — also blacklisted by the U.S. — include Norinco Group, which makes armored vehicles and anti-missiles systems; Aviation Industry Corporation of China, whose subsidiary AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Co. manufactured the J-10Cs; as well as China State Shipbuilding Corp., a producer of frigates and submarines. M. Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cautioned that the Chinese jet was primarily for aerial combat, while the Rafale was designed to conduct many kinds of missions, meaning the J-10 may have held an advantage. Chinese weapons exports have been plagued for years by defects, specialists have said, adding that the seemingly inexpensive systems can drain security budgets due to maintenance expenses. 'China attracts customers for its military equipment with cut-rate pricing and financing but there are hidden costs — especially when gear malfunctions,' Cindy Zheng, then a researcher at Rand Corp., wrote in a research paper just before joining the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in the latter stages of the Biden administration. In 2022, Myanmar had to reportedly ground its fleet of Chinese fighter jets due to structural cracks and other technical issues. Bangladesh lodged complaints with Beijing about the quality of its military hardware last year. Even the Pakistan Navy has been facing issues with its F-22P frigates, forcing them to operate the vessels with significantly degraded capabilities. 'Questions about combat capabilities and other issues, including concerns about interoperability with non-Chinese platforms, have hampered China's ability to expand exports beyond a handful of countries,' Bloomberg Intelligence's senior associate analyst Eric Zhu wrote in a note last week. China's Defense Ministry didn't respond to a request for comment on the past weapon defects and the J-10C's recent performance. Beijing regularly says that its military helps maintain global stability and that it prefers to resolve the Taiwan issue peacefully. Xi has been trying to turn China's defense industry around by bringing together the military and civilian sectors, in an effort to transform the PLA into a modern force by 2027. That's led to breakthroughs such as China's launch in December of its first next-generation amphibious assault ships, considered the world's largest of its kind. A video of what is believed to be a test flight of the nations' sixth-generation fighter jet circulated on social media that year, leading to a rally in defense stocks. But it's wrong to call the J-10C's potential success a 'DeepSeek moment' for China's military, said Fravel, referring to the artificial intelligence chat bot that surprised the world earlier this year, noting that the jet's design wasn't new. 'But it doesn't need to be a DeepSeek moment to be significant,' he added. 'A lot is being learned about how Chinese systems perform under combat conditions.' ___ © 2025 Bloomberg News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Miami Herald
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Chinese weapons gain credibility after Pakistan-India conflict
The recent conflict between India and Pakistan is prompting a reassessment of Chinese weapons, challenging long-held perceptions of their inferiority to Western arms and sparking concern in places wary of Beijing. Pakistan hailed the use of its Chinese J-10Cs to shoot down five Indian fighters, including French-made Rafale aircraft, last week in response to Indian military strikes. Although the reports haven't been confirmed, and India hasn't commented, the jet's maker saw its market capitalization soar by over 55 billion yuan ($7.6 billion), or more than a fourth, by the end of last week. Hu Xijin, the ex-editor-in-chief of China's nationalist tabloid Global Times, warned on social media that if Pakistan's successful strikes were true, Taiwan should feel 'even more scared.' Beijing sees the self-ruled democracy as its own, and reserves the right to use military force to bring it under control. Taiwan closely watched the clash between Pakistan and India, according to Shu Hsiao-Huang, an associate research fellow at the Institute of National Defense and Security Research, a government-funded military think tank based in Taipei. 'We may need to reassess the PLA's air combat capabilities, which may be approaching - or even surpassing - the level of U.S. air power deployments in East Asia,' Shu said, adding Washington might want to consider selling more advanced systems to Taiwan. While President Xi Jinping has been trying to modernize the world's biggest military by the number of active personnel, the People's Liberation Army has been mired in scandals. That had raised questions about the combat-readiness of its powerful and secretive Rocket Force, which is responsible for conventional missiles and would play a crucial role in any invasion of Taiwan. The reported success of J-10Cs, which have had few battle tests and are used to patrol the Taiwan Strait, appears to counter those doubts. It's still uncertain, however, how they would fare against U.S. fighters such as the F-16, which make up the bulk of Taiwan's jets and have been combat-proven across decades and militaries. Another Chinese weapon Pakistan uses will also be coming under intense scrutiny by Beijing's adversaries. Parts of Chinese air-to-air PL-15 missiles found in India after the reported shoot-downs suggest the weapons, deployed on Pakistan's J-10C aircraft, proved effective in their first known combat use. With a top speed above Mach 5, the PL-15 is a rival to Western air-to-air missiles. China is the world's fourth-largest arms exporter but its customers are mostly developing nations like Pakistan that have limited funds. The latest developments could bolster Beijing's sales pitch as major economies from Europe to Asia heed President Donald Trump's call to ramp up defense spending. 'There is a good chance the weapons systems China is able to offer will be even more appealing to potential buyers' especially in the Global South, said James Char, assistant professor of the China Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, noting the J-10C is not even China's most advanced jet. Buying weapons has also become a focus for developing nations, mulling U.S. arms purchases to appease Trump and his demands to reduce American trade imbalances. Several of these countries list China as a top trading partner and could consider hedging bets by acquiring systems from the Asian country, too. China's overseas arms sales have been growing, with its five-year average weapons exports more than tripling in 2020-2024 from 2000-2004, according to calculations based on data from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Chinese government and state-owned enterprises do not disclose data on arms exports. Some of the largest state-owned players - also blacklisted by the U.S. - include Norinco Group, which makes armored vehicles and anti-missiles systems; Aviation Industry Corporation of China, whose subsidiary AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Co. manufactured the J-10Cs; as well as China State Shipbuilding Corp., a producer of frigates and submarines. M. Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cautioned that the Chinese jet was primarily for aerial combat, while the Rafale was designed to conduct many kinds of missions, meaning the J-10 may have held an advantage. Chinese weapons exports have been plagued for years by defects, specialists have said, adding that the seemingly inexpensive systems can drain security budgets due to maintenance expenses. 'China attracts customers for its military equipment with cut-rate pricing and financing but there are hidden costs - especially when gear malfunctions,' Cindy Zheng, then a researcher at Rand Corp., wrote in a research paper just before joining the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in the latter stages of the Biden administration. In 2022, Myanmar had to reportedly ground its fleet of Chinese fighter jets due to structural cracks and other technical issues. Bangladesh lodged complaints with Beijing about the quality of its military hardware last year. Even the Pakistan Navy has been facing issues with its F-22P frigates, forcing them to operate the vessels with significantly degraded capabilities. 'Questions about combat capabilities and other issues, including concerns about interoperability with non-Chinese platforms, have hampered China's ability to expand exports beyond a handful of countries,' Bloomberg Intelligence's senior associate analyst Eric Zhu wrote in a note last week. China's Defense Ministry didn't respond to a request for comment on the past weapon defects and the J-10C's recent performance. Beijing regularly says that its military helps maintain global stability and that it prefers to resolve the Taiwan issue peacefully. Xi has been trying to turn China's defense industry around by bringing together the military and civilian sectors, in an effort to transform the PLA into a modern force by 2027. That's led to breakthroughs such as China's launch in December of its first next-generation amphibious assault ships, considered the world's largest of its kind. A video of what is believed to be a test flight of the nations' sixth-generation fighter jet circulated on social media that year, leading to a rally in defense stocks. But it's wrong to call the J-10C's potential success a 'DeepSeek moment' for China's military, said Fravel, referring to the artificial intelligence chat bot that surprised the world earlier this year, noting that the jet's design wasn't new. 'But it doesn't need to be a DeepSeek moment to be significant,' he added. 'A lot is being learned about how Chinese systems perform under combat conditions.' ____ -With assistance from Colum Murphy, Alastair Gale and Philip Glamann. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Memri
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Memri
Series Of 'Accidents' Resulting In Destruction Of Undersea Infrastructure Are A Chinese Salami-Slicing Operation
Four disturbing incidents occurred in the last two years, all of which destroyed global infrastructure. Chinese "civilian" maritime vessels were involved in every event. Four Incidents Incident 1 On February 2 and 8, 2023, two submarine communication cables connecting Taiwan and Matsu Islands were severed, disconnecting the internet. Taiwan's Institute of National Defense and Security Research reported that the cables were damaged by "Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fishing vessels and unidentified ships." "This incident resulted in local landlines, mobile communication, broadband Internet, and Multimedia on Demand (MOD) services being blocked, rendering communication impossible," Taiwan's Institute of National Defense and Security Research reported. [1] Most recently, on February 25, 2025, Taiwan announced that a Togolese-registered vessel and its Chinese crew have been detained "after a submarine communications cable linking Taiwan and Penghu was severed." [2] (Source: Incident 2. On October 8, 2023, the gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was severed. A post-incident investigation revealed that Chinese-owned and Hong Kong-flagged container ship Newnew Polar Bear damaged the Balticconnector, an undersea gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland. The incident occurred in the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), where Finnish authorities retrieved the anchor from the seabed on October 24, 2023. [3] Beijing denied accountability claiming that the anchors were dropped due to a storm and then dragged by strong winds. Meteorological records showed no storm during the time. The Newnew Polar Bear in Arkhangelsk, seen missing its portside anchor. Source: (ViltalyV./ Incident 3. On November 17 and 18, 2024, undersea fiber-optic communications cables, the BCS East-West Interlink (between Lithuania and Sweden's Gotland island) and C-Lion1 (connecting Finland and Germany), were severed in the Baltic Sea. Satellite images showed a Chinese civilian cargo vessel, the Yi Peng 3, which departed from the Russian port of Ust'-Luga on November 15, [4] sailing the area precisely when the cables were severed. The Lithuanian Geopolitics and Security Studies center reported: "It is suspected that the breach was caused by the Chinese-registered merchant ship Yi Peng 3, which dragged its anchor over two objects located approximately 100 km apart. The vessel was only temporarily stopped in Danish waters and it was only a month later that officials from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland were allowed to board the vessel for observation while the Chinese officials who arrived with them carried out an investigation that lasted several hours. A few days after this inspection, the Yi Peng 3 continued its voyage toward its destination in Egypt." [5] Beijing refused to cooperate with the Swedish-led investigation. They even denied the Swedish prosecutor entry onboard the ship to question the crew. [6] Instead, the Chinese conducted their own investigation and declared the incident a mere "accident." In an effort to show transparency, four token observers from the EU were allowed to witness the investigation. It was a sham; The four had no say in the final verdict. Yi Peng 3 (Source: Getty Images) Incident 4. On January 3, 2025, the Trans-Pacific Express Cable near Keelung City in northern Taiwan was damaged. The cable also connects to South Korea, Japan, China, and the United States. Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom stated that the international undersea cable was cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. [7] The ship, owned by a Hong Kong company, Jie Yang Trading Limited, [8] originally sailed under China's flag but changed its registry in 2024 to one from Cameroon (as Shunxin-39) and another in Tanzania (as Xinshun-39). According to the Taiwan Coast Guard, the vessel's crew were entirely made up of Chinese nationals. Tracking data showed the vessel crossing the site where undersea cables were situated in northern Taiwan. It carried two sets of automatic identification systems (AIS). Both were switched off shortly before the cables were severed. The Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. (Source: One Mission, Varying Objectives Beijing takes no responsibility for the incidents and maintains that they were all accidents. Tsai Jung-hsiang of the National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan vehemently disagrees with Beijing's narrative. [9] Neither do other maritime authorities. The Taiwanese professor correctly reasoned that the deployment of vessels for the same mission (to destroy undersea infrastructure) using the same method and perpetuated by the same country cannot be a coincidence. He believes that the missions were carefully planned to fulfill varying objectives. The objectives for the incident affecting Sweden were multi-layered. They are: to test how NATO would react given that Sweden is the alliance's newest member; to cause economic instability by disrupting internet and communication services between EU countries; to send a signal that China's has both the capability and political will to cause damage and chaos; and to cause NATO countries to focus on internal security rather than broader geopolitical strategies. The incident that affected Finland and Estonia were done to aid Russia. Its objectives, too, are multi-layered. They are: to disrupt energy security of the EU; to test NATO's response – its readiness, tolerance, methods, level of unity, and the sanctions it will take; and to pile up costs for EU nations who are already grappling with the costs of supporting the Ukraine. The incidents in Taiwan serve a different purpose. First of all it is China's rehearsal for a blockade. Second it applies psychological pressure on Taiwan, to break its will, undermine its confidence, and keep it on the edge. It also serves as a warning to Taiwan's allies demonstrating the risks of coming to Taiwan's defense. Salami-Slicing Strategy I n the context of warfare, a salami-slicing strategy refers to a tactic where an aggressor achieves its objectives through a series of small, incremental actions taken individually thereby avoiding crossing any red lines and provoking a significant response. Collectively, however, these actions result in a strategic advantage. The strategy exploits the ambiguity of the situation where actions could be written off as an accident or coincidence. It gives the perpetrator plausible deniability. China's track record shows that it will continue to deploy its salami-slicing operations until there is pushback from its victims. Experts agree that China needs a taste of its own medicine. Victim countries are advised to apply the same gray zone tactics toward China, whenever possible, as an act of deterrence. In addition, China should be made to pay a steep cost for its rogue tactics by way of stiff economic sanctions and legal repercussions. Peaceful nations must realize that the People's Republic of China is a communist country that has every intention of sowing global havoc and destruction in its pursuit of hegemony. That said, nations must brace themselves by way of infrastructure resilience, diversification of supply chains and civil society preparedness. *Andrew Masigan is the MEMRI China Media Studies Project Special Advisor. He is a Manila-based economist, businessman, and political columnist for The Philippine Star . Masigan's articles in MEMRI are also published in The Philippine Star. [1] July 2023. [2] February 25, 2025. [3] August 12, 2024. [4] December 31, 2024. [5] January 20, 2025. [6] December 23, 2024. [7] January 5, 2025. [8] Jie Yang Trading Limited's director is Guo Wenjie, a Chinese citizen. [9]
