China is posturing once again. Remember when they test fired an ICBM when Clinton was over there? Guess how they got the guidance system technology? North Korea is in a bad place, and their only real friend in the region is China. The US and South Korea have been playing war too, and Taiwan is nervous. I'm not sure why our own media isn't following what's going on over there more closely. I guess they are too busy following Lindsay Lohan???
From the French Press~
BEIJING - China launched large-scale air defense exercises on Aug. 3 -
the latest in a series of drills carried out amid U.S. concerns about
Beijing's increasing military assertiveness.
More than 10,000 defense personnel and seven different types of
military aircraft are taking part in the drills in the eastern province
of Shandong and the central province of Henan, the official China News
Service said.
The exercises, codenamed "Vanguard 2010," will involve
emergency evacuation, war planning, and reconnaissance and early
warning, the report said. They are slated to last five days.
The
exercises - aimed at ensuring preparedness for the defense of Beijing in
a potential air raid - will include one live-fire drill and will take
place in real-time war conditions without any previous rehearsal,
according to the report.
The exercises come hot on the heels of
large naval and air drills held on China's southeast coast last week,
just as South Korea and the U.S. conducted their own naval exercises in
the region, opposed by Beijing.
A large group of submarines and
warships from the People's Liberation Army Navy fired guided missiles in
the South China Sea and tested anti-missile air defense systems.
The U.S. and China's neighbors have expressed concerns about what is perceived as Beijing's increasing military assertiveness.
In recent years Beijing has poured money into its People's Liberation
Army, with a string of big-budget increases that have funded the
development of a host of advanced missiles, jet fighters and other
weaponry.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, said
in July that China's military had made "a fairly significant investment
in high-end equipment" including satellites, aircraft and anti-ship
missiles.
He called the move a "strategic shift, where they are
moving from a focus on their ground forces to focus on their navy, and
their maritime forces and their air force," adding he was "concerned."
China has also become increasingly vocal about territorial claims such
as those in the South China Sea and over Taiwan, which it views as part
of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
U.S. officials worry that Beijing's more assertive stance in the Pacific
Ocean could undercut America's long-dominant naval power in Asia.
China maintains that its army build-up is purely for national defense and poses no threat to other countries.
