China Opposes U.S. Withdrawal From Missile Treaty to Keep Advantage

Russian Defense Ministry officials show off the Russia’s 9M729 cruise missile at the military Patriot Park outside Moscow / Getty Images

 

Beijing using arms control to protect 2,000 intermediate-range missiles but refused to join INF treaty

China is opposed to the United States’ withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty while refusing to join the arms accord to avoid limiting its large missile forces, according to a congressional report.

In contrast to the ban on U.S. and Russian intermediate-range missiles, “remaining outside the pact has allowed China to rapidly expand its missile arsenal as part of a military strategy designed to counter U.S. and allied military power in Asia,” states a staff report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission made public this week.

China’s GF-4 satellite can be used to monitor US carriers

China will be ready to launch the Gaofen-4 satellite into space, which will be capable of tracking down every single US aircraft carrier around the globe, before the end of 2015, reports the China Youth Daily.

During the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, in which China fired missile tests in the Taiwan Strait and drew the response of the US Navy, the PLA realized that its mission to “liberate” Taiwan could never work without defeating US aircraft carriers.