Satellite Images Suggest China Is Arming Strategic South China Sea Base With Missiles

Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy recruits chant slogan during a parade to mark the end of a semester at a military base of the North Sea Fleet, in Qingdao, Shandong province December 5, 2013. (REUTERS/China Daily)

 

Satellite imagery of the People’s Liberation Army’s Yulin Naval Base on Hainan Island in the South China Sea shows the deployment of multiple missile launchers, which observers believe are for launching anti-ship ballistic missiles, reports Defense News.

“The direction in which the launchers are facing leads us to believe these are shore-to-ship missiles,” ImageSat International imagery analyst Amit Gur told reporters.

Would China Launch a “Pearl Harbor-Style” Strike on America?

Whether the Chinese would launch a Pearl Harbor-style attack on America is debatable only by those who never learned from history and refuse to see the events building before their very eyes today. The CCP and PLA make quite clear in the following previous posts their objectives:

War Is Not Far from Us and Is the Midwife of the Chinese Century

China’s Military Threatens America: ‘We Will Hurt You’

China’s leader is telling the People’s Liberation Army to prepare for war

 

“Our military battle preparation appears to aim at Taiwan, but in fact is aimed at the United States, and the preparation is far beyond the scope of attacking aircraft carriers or satellites.”

– Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian, December 2005.

 

 

If Imperial Japan’s past turns out to be a Rising China’s prologue, Beijing could well order a Pearl Harbor-style attack on America, possibly within a decade.  Potential targets range from American aircraft carriers in the Taiwan Strait and bombers on the runways of Okinawa and Guam to the military satellite network serving as the eyes and ears of the U.S. high command.  Even civilian infrastructure like America’s electricity grid may be at risk.

If you believe that prediction to be alarmist, consider these historical parallels with another rising Asian power during the early 20th century.

AFA 2015: Russia has closed air power gap with NATO, US warns

• Russia’s military modernisation has diminished NATO’s air superiority in Europe
• The Pentagon is most alarmed by Russia’s ability to create A2/AD challenges

Russia’s military modernisation has diminished NATO’s air superiority in Europe, US Air Force (USAF) General Frank Gorenc, the commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa, said during the Air Force Association’s annual symposium on 14 September.

“They have closed the gap,” Gen Gorenc, also the chief of Allied Air Command, told reporters during a briefing.

Fifth Generation Super Weapons to Significantly Increase China’s Air Power

 

The Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (J-20) and the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (J-31) are subsidiaries of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). These two companies have been working on the designs of the super jets.

J-20 is closer to becoming operational it is expected to reach initial operating capability (IOC) by 2018. As both jets are still in the prototype stage, their exact capabilities are not certain.

Pentagon concerned by China’s ever deadlier ICBMs

The United States has been concerned over China’s array of intercontinental ballistic missiles and ever-increasing military budget and presence, reports Huanqiu, website of the nationalistic tabloid Global Times.