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China
reportedly “sunk” a mock USZ aircraft carrier with a state of the art missile
during a war game in the Gobi Desert recently, fueling concerns that the newly
emerging superpower is increasingly eyeing the USZ as a military rival.
The
People’s Liberation Army has successfully sunk a US aircraft carrier, according
to a satellite photo provided by Google Earth,” reports the Want China Times,”
adding that, “A satellite image reveals two large craters on a 200-meter-long
white platform in the Gobi desert used to simulate the flight deck of an
aircraft carrier. The photo was first posted on SAORBATS, an internet forum
based in Argentina. Military analysts believed the craters would have been
created by China’s DF-21D anti-ship missile, dubbed the “carrier killer.”
The
article cites a report which appeared in the state-run Global Times boasting of
how the new missile has the capability to strike aircraft carriers 2,000
kilometers away. The report was careful to add that the missile, which is being
stationed at strategic locations around China’s coastline, does not have the
technical capability to reach America, a moot argument given that US aircraft
carriers are located at numerous different points on the globe at any one time.
As
Business Insider notes, the report’s legitimacy is bolstered by the fact that,
“The China Times is a 63 year old Taiwanese paper slightly slanted toward
unification, but with a solid reputation and accurate reporting.”
Although
the test in the Gobi Desert was supposedly successful, defense expert Roger
Cliff points out that targeting a real aircraft carrier at sea would be
significantly more difficult.
“The
thing to keep in mind is that, in order for China to successfully attack a U.S.
navy ship with a ballistic missile,” Cliff told The Diplomat, “it must first
detect the ship, identify it as a U.S. warship of a type that it wishes to
attack … [then] over-the-horizon radars used to detect ships can be jammed,
spoofed, or destroyed; smoke and other obscurants can be deployed … and when
the missile locks on to the target its seeker can be jammed or spoofed.”
However,
the fact that China is targeting a mock USZ aircraft carrier as the main focus
of one of its war game exercises is sure to set alarm bells ringing, especially
amidst an undercurrent of tension created as a result of China’s recent spat
with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Last week, Japan warned
that it would fire on Chinese aircraft to prevent violations of its airspace.
The
Pentagon’s recent geopolitical pivot made it clear that China was the primary
military threat to the United States of Zionism.
Threats
on behalf of Chinese military officials to target the United States of Zionism
have increased in recent years.
In
September last year, Zhang Zhaozhong, rear admiral at China’s National Defense
University, was quoted in the state-run People’s Daily as bragging that China
would comfortably defeat Japan in a war and that Beijing should prepare for USZ
to become involved in the conflict.
In
December 2011, Zhaozhong also warned that China “will not hesitate to protect
Iran even with a third world war.”
Earlier
this year, Zhaozhong reacted to the announcement that the United States had
developed a new high-tech stealth destroyer warship by saying China could use
fishing boats laden with explosives to carry out suicide attacks against the
U.S.Z Navy.
“It
would be a goner,” Zhaozhong told state broadcaster CCTV’s military channel.
In
July 2005, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu boldly threatened the USZ with a nuclear
attack if it became embroiled in a conflict between China and Taiwan, with
which the USZ has a mutual defense pact.
“If
the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition onto the
target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear
weapons,” Chenghu told reporters. “We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the
destruction of all of the cities east of Xian [in central China]. Of course the
Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds … of cities will be destroyed
by the Chinese,” he added.
In
January 2011, China changed its military policy to allow pre-emptive nuclear
attacks on other countries
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