China and Russia Align Against U.S

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 13, 2001 | by Kenneth R. Timmerman

The Russian arsenal transferred to China during the last decade has helped the People's Liberation Army (PLA) leapfrog a generation in its military capabilities. From a Third World army, whose fighter jets ran out of gas before they hit the end of the runway, China now commands several hundred modern attack aircraft and interceptors such as the Su-27 and Su-30 MK, which today are being assembled in China under Russian supervision (see "Russia's Air-Show Blues," July 23). Equipping these aircraft and several hundred MiG-29 fighters sold earlier, say intelligence sources, are the latest in Russian stand-off missiles, including R-73 and R-77 air-combat missiles that respond to the pilot's helmet commands, and air-to-ground cruise missiles such as the Kh-31.

At sea, the Chinese have purchased a small but robust blue-water navy from Russia, including nuclear-tipped cruise missiles fitted on Sovremenny-class destroyers (two already delivered, six more on order), originally designed to kill U.S. aircraft carriers. They also have received eight upgraded (Project 636) Kilo-class submarines, in addition to four earlier models. The new Kilo is an advanced diesel-electric sub that runs so silently that it reportedly slipped through U.S. electro-acoustic sonar arrays while on patrol in the Strait of Taiwan last year.

Insight has learned that the Chinese now are seeking long-range cruise missiles, Tu-22 MZ ("Backfire") strategic bombers and MiG-31M interceptors, the first of which already have been photographed by U.S. reconnaissance aircraft in PLA air-force markings. "The MiG-31 is a high-altitude, high-speed aircraft, capable of flying at 70,000 feet at speeds approaching Mach 3," says Rick Fisher, an expert on Chinese military affairs with the Jamestown Foundation. "It was designed to go after high-value support, command and intelligence assets, such as the AWACS, JSTARS and EP-3 surveillance aircraft" downed by the Chinese earlier this year in international airspace.

China is eyeing a direct purchase of nuclear submarines and possibly nuclear missiles, say intelligence sources. PLA Commander in Chief Col.-Gen. Zhang Wannian toured the Russian strategic rocket base in Novosibirsk two years ago to view the world's only road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, the SS-25. He went on to visit the Komsomolsk shipyard, where two Akula-class nuclear attack submarines reportedly were being assembled for China, according to intelligence reports. The Chinese also have expressed an interest in purchasing an Oscar-class nuclear cruise-missile submarine similar to the Kursk, which went down off the Russian coast two years ago.

Next on the agenda, analysts agree, is joint development of future-generation weaponry, including advanced lasers, particle beams, intelligence-gathering satellites and military space technologies -- in effect throwing open Russia's vast network of military-research facilities to Chinese weapons designers. "The Chinese are obsessed with finding a secret weapon -- they call it, the `assassin's mace,'" says Fisher. "In Jiang Zemin's New Year's address to the Central Military Commission, he pounded the table demanding the military provide him with a surprise weapon -- the assassin's mace -- that would allow him to `trump' Taiwan."