China’s second stealth fighter has made its first test flight, state media reported yesterday, in a boost to the country’s air capabilities even though the plane is unlikely to be deployed for years.
The J-31, the second stealth plane to be unveiled by China in less than two years, flew for 11 minutes on Wednesday morning, the state-run Global Times reported, citing an eyewitness. Two Chinese-made J-11 fighters accompanied it on the flight.
Photographs posted online by Chinese military enthusiasts appeared to show the black-painted combat plane in mid-flight near the northeastern city of Shenyang. Images of the aircraft were first leaked online in September.
China’s first stealth fighter, the J-20, was unveiled early last year, but is not expected to enter service until 2018. The country’s first aircraft carrier entered service last month, with others capable of carrying aircraft expected to follow.
The J-31 appears to be more mobile than the J-20, with its landing gear suggesting it is designed to be launched from an aircraft carrier, military expert Andrei Chang said.
He said the J-31 appeared similar to the latest “fifth” generation of US-designed stealth fighters, but with a less powerful engine and a lower proportion of sophisticated radar-blocking composite materials.
“In terms of design it appears the J-31 is inferior to the latest US planes,” said Chang, head of the Kanwa Information Center, which monitors China’s military. “The layout is similar, but the material and quality are inferior.”
A long testing process means the aircraft is unlikely to be put into action for nearly a decade.
“It will take at least seven or eight years before it can be commercially sold,” Chang said, adding that the test flight was timed to coincide with the run-up to China’s once-in-a-decade leadership transition.
“I think the regime is trying to show off to their colleagues that the Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) regime achieved a lot for China,” he said, adding that the J-31’s manufacturers hoped to export the plane to Chinese allies such as Pakistan.
“I think it’s a fairly straight forward evolution to develop advanced fighters at this time, but you can’t read too much into it in terms of capabilities,” Greg Waldron of Flightglobal magazine in Singapore told The Associated Press.
The smaller and nimbler J-31 appeared intended for a fighter-interceptor role similar to the US Joint Strike Fighter, while the heavier J-20 would target airfields, warships and other ground targets, he said.
China says its defense spending will top US$100 billion this year, the latest in a series of budget increases to the country’s 2.3 million-strong military.
Decades of increased investment saw the country fall from being the world’s largest importer of arms in 2007 to the fourth-largest by last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.
Additional reporting by AP
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
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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