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China upgrade targets Taiwan, report says

The modernization of China’s air force is largely focused on overwhelming Taiwan’s air power, an article in the latest edition of Defense News said.

The article highlights four types of air campaign that it says make up the training of the People’s Liberation Army’s air force — air offense, air defense, air blockade and airborne operations — all of which are in preparation for a future conflict with Taiwan that may or may not involve the US.

The strategy for dealing with US forces, the weekly says, largely focuses on “access denial,” that is preventing US aircraft carriers from entering waters near Taiwan.

This coincides with a report in last Thursday’s Washington Times that said the US was closely watching the anticipated test-firing of China’s new conventionally armed strategic missile, which is said to be capable of hitting US aircraft carriers and other warships at sea.

The Defense News report quoted an unnamed former US defense official as saying: “If there were a conflict with Taiwan, [China] would clearly begin by using its aircraft in an offensive campaign.”

But he added that the Chinese air force would quickly have to shift to a defensive campaign if the US began attacking Chinese military targets along its coasts, possibly affecting its sortie capability as it moved its aircraft inland.

The former official also raised questions about the Chinese air force’s training regime, saying it was unclear what the goals of the training were.

Asked by the weekly about China’s ongoing moves to purchase mid-air refueling aircraft and whether this was part of Chinese plans to project power beyond Taiwan, to Guam or Hawaii for example, the former official dismissed the rumors as “fluff.”

He said it was difficult to name a target or circumstance for which China would need that kind of capability.
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