October 2, 2019 Typically my columns in this space focus on China’s commercial technology: the wonders of WeChat, the triumphs of Taobao, the hubbub about Huawei. But on Tuesday, China marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic with an elaborately choreographed weapons parade that offered a rare glimpse of the nation’s military tech capabilities.
The celebration was a corker—China’s most important political event of the year. The parade rumbled for hours through through Tiananmen Square, involving 580 tanks, 160 fighter jets and bombers, and 15,000 goose-stepping soldiers. (Check out it out on video.) State media report 40% of the weapons displayed in the cavalcade had never previously appeared in public.
The spectacle was primarily meant to dazzle Chinese citizens. But it also sent a clear message to the rest of the world: China has become a formidable military power. As Xi Jinping, presiding over the affair in a charcoal Mao suit, declared: “There’s no force that can shake the foundations of this great nation.”
The armaments on display Tuesday make that a credible boast. America’s nuclear stockpile dwarfs China’s. But in Beijing, China unveiled advanced hypersonic weapons capable of evading interception, new ground-to-air missiles designed to intercept weapons, and a slew of sophisticated drones and unmanned submarines. Among China’s new weapons:
• Dongfeng 17 (DF-17) hypersonic missile, thought to be China’s first operational missile mounted with a hypersonic glide vehicle enabling it to cruise at high speeds at low altitudes and change course instantly, thus evading detection by current missile-defense systems.
• Dongfeng 41 (DF-41) intercontinental ballistic missile , a ballistic missile with an estimated range of more than 7,500 miles and capable of striking any part of the United States with 10 separately targeted nuclear warheads.
• Gongji-11 (GJ-11) stealth combat drone, designed to evade detection by enemy radar and believed able to fly further and remain aloft longer than jet fighters—potentially enhancing China’s combat capacity in the South China Sea or Taiwan Straits.
• HSU001 underwater drone, thought to be capable of tracking foreign naval vessels or protecting Chinese nuclear submarines.
Global military experts seemed impressed. Sam Roggeveen, director of the Sydney-based Lowy Institute's International Security Program, told Reuters the weapons in Tuesday’s parade suggest the pace of China's military technological development is "breathtaking.” China’s new arsenal “dramatically erodes the U.S. military edge in Asia,” he said.
Elsa Kania, adjunct senior fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, told the Los Angeles Times the parade demonstrates how far China’s military has progressed since 2014, when Xi directed it to pursue technological innovation. The parade highlights that “the People's Liberation Army's ambitions to become a truly world-class military that is leading in new frontiers of military power,” she said.
Meanwhile, stateside, Aaron is back compiling the rest of the newsletter today.
Clay Chandler
On Twitter: @claychandler
Email: clay.chandler@fortune.com
No comments:
Post a Comment