Due to transfers of technology from Israel and the US, China has in recent years greatly enhanced its military capabilities with regard to ballistic missiles and information warfare, an official with the National Defense University (NDU) said yesterday.
The official also warned that the Chinese navy is to start building its first aircraft carrier this year and that the 20,000-tonne vessel is scheduled to enter service by 2006.
"According to studies by US military analysts, the Chinese military has greatly improved the accuracy and attack capabilities of its Dong Feng-15, also known as M-9, missile through technological assistance provided by Israel," said NDU instructor Lieutenant Commander Hsu Ming-huang (許銘煌).
The Chinese military has also progressed considerably in the field of information warfare, Hsu said, thanks to timely help from the US.
"China has acquired from the US in recent years top-end products and technology such as supercomputers, encryption know-how and technology for the production of fiber optics and microprocessors," Hsu said, quoting research by Professor Chung Chien (鍾堅) of National Tsing Hua University.
Hsu cautioned against the continuous Chinese military build-up with military technological assistance as he delivered a lecture to the press yesterday at the Taoyuan-based NDU. The lecture is a routine one arranged by the NDU for the press once every quarter.
An intelligence source had previously told the Taipei Times that the main reason behind the great improvement in China's M-class missiles between 1995 and 1996 was that China acquired three supercomputers from the US via Japan.
In the summer of 1995, China fired a number of M-class missiles into seas off Taiwan, registering a comparatively low accuracy rate, the intelligence source said.
But in 1996, as the Chinese military launched new rounds of missile tests off Taiwan in the lead-up to the presidential election of that year, the missiles almost all hit the target zones, the source said.
Hsu also alerted the press to the fact that the Chinese navy will start building its first aircraft carrier later this year and that the carrier is set to become operational by 2006.
"The aircraft carrier is to be built on the basis of what the Chinese navy has learned from a decommissioned carrier it bought from Australia," Hsu said.
"After the first carrier has become operational, the Chinese navy will build one new carrier every two to three years," he added.
"China will not necessarily plan to use the aircraft carriers against Taiwan. They are more likely to aim at projecting their power into the Pacific Ocean," he added.
Aside from the aircraft carrier, Hsu also called attention to the fast growth of rapid reaction troops in China in recent years.
"From the late 1980s on, the Chinese military has increased its rapid reaction troops to 300,000 in total. The number is to further grow to 500,000 in the future," Hsu said.
"The rapid reaction forces will integrate elite troops from all services, including the army, navy, air force and the artillery corps. They will be used to engage the enemy in all sorts of terrain and warfare," he said.
"They are the force on which a Chinese victory in any regional war will depend in the future."
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