China will unveil a range of unknown missiles during its Oct. 1 National Day parade, including intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, state media said yesterday.
The new hardware on display will include conventional cruise missiles and short and medium-range missiles, the Global Times newspaper reported, citing an unnamed source in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“These missiles are domestically designed and manufactured and have never been officially reported before,” the source, who is with the PLA’s strategic missile defense unit, was quoted as saying.
The weapons have already been distributed to the military and are ready for operation, the source said.
China’s missile program is causing concern overseas, particularly in the US, amid projections that it could soon tip the security balance in the Taiwan Strait.
A report last month by the Rand Corporation, a US think tank, said China was increasing both the quantity and quality of its short-range ballistic missiles, which could challenge the US’ ability to protect Taiwan from possible attack.
China issued a military policy white paper earlier this year, saying its missile program was aimed mainly at “deterrence.”
However, it said that it was also capable of “conducting nuclear counter-attacks and precision strikes with conventional missiles.”
China will stage a huge military parade and pageant in Beijing on Oct. 1 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of communist China.
The expert quoted by Global Times did not reveal the model names or numbers of the missiles. However, missiles believed to have been developed by China include the Dong Feng 41, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with an estimated range of up to 12,000km.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Tuesday that China was redoubling efforts to build a fifth-generation fighter plane equivalent to the US’ F-22 and F-35. During the 60th anniversary of the PLA Navy in April, the commander of the PLA Navy mentioned a requirement for a fighter capable of “supersonic cruise,” which refers to an aircraft’s ability to fly supersonically for extended periods without using fuel-hungry afterburners.
China’s development of fifth-generation aircraft date back to the early 1990s, the WSJ said, and will start with two heavy fighters from the country’s two main military aircraft companies.
A Chinese source told the WSJ in early 2005 that the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, which developed the fourth-generation J-10 fighter, was considering the development of a medium-weight fifth-generation aircraft comparable to the F-35. Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, meanwhile, said in 2006 it was working on a single-engine forward-swept-wing fighter that would be highly maneuverable and potentially stealthy, the WSJ said.
Advances in electronics and engines in China’s earlier-generation aircraft will make these fighters, as well as fifth-generation fighters, more threatening to current and future US air forces, and make obsolete the fourth-generation fighter aircraft used by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the WSJ said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique