Posted on 08/14/2003 1:24:03 PM PDT by batter
By tapping officials with air and coastal warfare experience, it is positioning itself for any battle over Taiwan Strait -
CHINA has stepped up preparations for any battle over the Taiwan Strait by moving several generals with experience in air and coastal operations to key positions.
According to reports, Lieutenant-General Zheng Shenxia, 61, chief of staff of the air force, was recently appointed president of the Academy of Military Sciences, the top think-tank on military strategy.
He is the first airman to head the academy since it was founded in 1958 by the late Marshal Ye Jianying.
Analysts believe this reflects an increased emphasis by Beijing on improving research and planning for airborne operations rather than traditional ground force movements.
The implications are obvious: Should hostilities break out over the Taiwan Strait, it is the air force and navy of the People's Liberation Army that will do most of the fighting.
Just as significant is the appointment of Lt-Gen Pei Huailiang as the new commandant of the National Defence University, another top military institute.
For the past 13 years, the 62-year-old veteran had served in two of the three military regions along China's south-eastern coastline - three years as deputy chief of staff in the Nanjing command in the early 1990s, and a decade as deputy commander of the Jinan military region.
Analysts believe it is this extensive experience at the front line with Taiwan that accounted for his latest appointment.
He is expected to help reshape the strategic thinking of successive batches of senior officers who attend the university.
Apart from Lt-Gen Zheng and Lt-Gen Pei, a number of other senior officers were also rotated recently through key jobs in Nanjing, Jinan and Guangzhou - the third of the military regions along the coastline facing Taiwan - as well as the national command in Beijing.
For example, Lt-Gen Ye Aiqun and Lt-Gen Xiong Ziren of Guangzhou were named deputy commander and deputy commissar of Nanjing region while Major-General Liu Zhongxing, former commander of the Guangxi-based Seventh Air Corps, is now head of Jinan's air force.
Observers say the shuffling is to enhance inter-region and inter-services coordination, all in preparation for any fighting over the strait.
The ultimate aim is to have a mix of top officers in each of the three regions facing Taiwan, including one with vast experience in airborne operations. In the event of war, all three regions become one well-coordinated theatre.
Take Nanjing military region, for example. Its commander Zhu Wenquan has been there for years but political commissar Lei Mingqiu, the second-in-line, is from Guangzhou.
Lt-Gen Ye and Lt-Gen Xiong are the two new deputy chiefs moved in from Guangzhou while a third deputy commander, Lt-Gen Ma Diansheng, is the former commander of the 15th Airborne Corps under Guangzhou.
Completing the Nanjing line-up are commanders of the East Sea Fleet and the regional air force, Vice-Admiral Zhao Guojun and Maj-Gen Liu Chengjun, who rank as ex-officio deputy chiefs.
It may be noted that Maj-Gen Liu was a new appointment from within the Nanjing air command, filling in the vacancy left by his boss Ma Xiaotian, who was promoted as vice-commander of the air force national command.
Analysts believe these appointments have strengthened Beijing's command and control over the regions.
It is no coincidence that the incumbent chief of the general staff Liang Guanglie was formerly commander of the Nanjing command.
The Chinese program over the next decade or so is to shut off Asian buying of US securities and so crash the dollar, and by doing so get the Arabs to stop pricing oil in dollars, and by so doing collapse the overseas markets for dollars for an indefinate period. Then Taiwan will fall with almost no fighting, Japan will fall into line when North Korea is brought to heel, etc.
US out of East Asia, Chinese hegemony unchallenged. Simple, and the program is running according to plan. The Iraq business, amongst other goals, is aimed to frustrate this program. The Big Boys play for keeps.
China hasn't fought in any air or naval battle since 1949. Experience in which battle, may I ask?
While the "People's Republic" may use slave labor to produce underwear that cannot be beaten in the world market- I doubt that they have anything to rival the western technology available to the Taiwanese Air Force.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the National Anthem:
Our aim shall be to found a free land.
World peace be our stand.
Lead on, comrades, vanguards ye are.
Hold fast your aim, by sun and star.
Be earnest and brave, your country to save.
One heart, one soul, one mind, one goal!
Our aim shall be to found a free land.
World peace be our stand.
Lead on, comrades, vanguards ye are.
Hold fast your aim, by sun and star.
Be earnest and brave, your country to save.
One heart, one soul, one mind, one goal!
Doesn't sound like "reunification is high on Taiwan priorities..
China flexes military muscle in anti-terror exercises
China vowed to stamp out separatism and extremism Thursday as it flexed its military muscle in its largest ever joint anti-terrorism operations.
Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that groups China and five former Soviet republics in Central Asia began joint military exercises in Kazakhstan Wednesday aimed at averting terrorist strikes from land and air.
The drill is also seen as China's bid to counterbalance the growing US military presence in the strategic and resource-rich Central Asia region.
Lieutenant General Li Qianyuan, head of the Chinese military delegation and Commander of the Lanzhou Military Command, said the show of strength would help guarantee security and stability in the region.
"The military exercise... showed that the SCO member states take the same stand and hold the same determination to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism," Li was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.
"It is an important step for the SCO states to step up military cooperation and mutual trust among their armed forces, and boost regional cooperation against terrorism.
"The Chinese government stands firmly against terrorism of all kinds, calls for closer international cooperation and removing the roots of terrorism."
During the first stage of "Cooperation 2003", more than 1,000 soldiers from Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan launched a mock battle to rescue air passengers held by a gang of international terrorists.
In the second stage on August 11-12, Chinese forces will practise hostage-release techniques and the destruction of a terrorist base in its Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The Shanghai group comprises Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia and China and was formed in 2001 in an effort to overcome lingering suspicions between Beijing and its ex-Soviet neighbours.
The drills are the first of their kind within the framework of the SCO, and the first time the PLA has taken part in such a large scale joint anti-terror exercise, China's Ministry of National Defense said.
"The exercise will promote understanding, friendship, cooperation and development between the PLA and military forces of other member countries," said a ministry official, Xinhua reported.
Cash-strapped Tajikistan has an observation role in the current round of exercises but there was no mention of Uzbekistan, which maintains frosty relations with its neighbours.
A statement by the Kazhak military Wednesday said the Shanghai group was creating an anti-terrorism headquarters in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, which also hosts US-led forces engaged in stabilisation efforts in Afghanistan and a Russian airbase used by another grouping of ex-Soviet states.
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More PRC-related stories can be found on: ChiCom Watch
How would that happen? Maybe a helium party balloon get loose and set off the radar early-warning system?
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