RUMORS OF WAR: China prepares for pre-emptive strike against US military bases
Pearl Harbor 2? China 'has prepared for a preemptive strike against US military bases which would cripple American forces in the region'
- An investigation of satellite imagery compares China's missile testing grounds and US military bases
- The images show that the test areas have been designed to look like the military bases, according to the report
- Earlier this week, a highly accurate Chinese ballistic missile capable of threatening US and Japan bases in Asia made its latest appearance
- The medium-range DF-16 featured in a video posted last week
The levels at which China appears to be
planning a missile attack on US military bases in the Pacific have been
detailed in a new report.
An
investigation of satellite imagery comparing China's missile testing
grounds and US military bases shows a pattern - all of the missile tests
have been aimed at destroying US carriers, destroyers and airfields in
East Asia, the report said.
The images
show that the test areas have been designed to look like the military
bases, according to the report by Thomas Shugart on War on the Rocks.
Earlier
this week, a highly accurate Chinese ballistic missile capable of
threatening US and Japan bases in Asia made its latest appearance at
recent Rocket Force drills.
Earlier this week, a highly accurate
Chinese ballistic missile (pictured above) capable of threatening US and
Japan bases in Asia made its latest appearance at recent Rocket Force
drills
China's missiles can reach ranges of approximately 1,500km, which is a further distance than many US military bases
A possible PLA Rocket Force ballistic missile impact range shows mock military bases that could be compared to US military bases
An investigation of satellite imagery
by the War on the Rocks shows parts of parts of the Rocket Force range
appearing to look like Patriot Batter, Kadena in Japan
The medium-range DF-16 featured in a
video posted last week on the Defense Ministry's website showing the
missiles aboard their 10-wheeled mobile launch vehicles being deployed
in deep forest during exercises over the just-concluded Lunar New Year
holiday.
While the Rocket Force boasts
an extensive armory of missiles of various ranges, the DF-16 fills a
particular role in extending China's reach over waters it seeks to
control within what it calls the 'first-island chain'.
First
displayed at a Beijing military parade in 2015, the missile is believed
to have a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), putting it within
striking distance of Okinawa, home to several US military installations,
as well as the Japanese home islands, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The
two-stage DF-16 replaces the older, shorter range DF-11, with a final
stage that can adjust its trajectory to strike slow moving targets and
evade anti-missile defenses such as the US Patriot system deployed by
Taiwan.
An area on the mock airfield shows an aircraft target in almost the same position as an aircraft on Kadena Air Base
Possible test fuel tank targets appear to look similar to above-ground fuel tanks in Hachinohe, Japan
A satellite image dating back to 2012, according to the War on the Rocks, shows craters in a test target
A possible electrical substation
target is seen in a satellite image from July 2013. There are no
electrical lines, however, running to or from the target
It
also carries up to three warheads weighing as much as a ton and
carrying conventional high explosives or a nuclear weapon. Further
increasingly its lethality, the missile is believed to be accurate to
within as little as 5 meters (16 feet) of the target, similar to that of
a cruise missile.
China has the most active ballistic missile development program in the world, according to CSIS.org.
Before taking office, President
Donald Trump's questioned Washington's 'one China policy' that shifted
diplomatic recognition from self-governing Taiwan to China in 1979. He
said it was open to negotiation.
But
former US officials and scholars said in a report that such an approach
could destabilize the Asia-Pacific and leave Taiwan more vulnerable.
Possible shelter or bunker targets resemble hardened aircraft shelters at the Misawa Air Base in Japan
Possible mock moored ship targets
resemble the US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Inset is a comparison of
the ship and mock ship's sizes
An area at the Rocket Force test range in western China resembles the layout of a US Naval base in Yokosuka, Japan
US-China relations are at a
'precarious crossroads' and the two world powers could be on a
'collision course,' it said, describing a rivalry that is growing amid
Beijing's assertion of territorial claims in the disputed South and East
China Seas.
China has bristled at the
'one China' comments by Trump, who wants to pressure Beijing to narrow
its huge trade surplus with the United States.
Beijing
also warned of instability in East Asia after Trump's defense
secretary, Jim Mattis, said last week on a trip to the region that a US
commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that
China claims.
The Trump administration has cast its China policy as part of a 'peace through strength' approach.
