New DOD Report on Chinese Military

satcom

New Member
Hers a new DOD report on Chinese Military Expansion. the name of the report is in PDF is "Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007"

defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/070523-China-Military-Power-final.pdf


By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2007 – China must continue to make strides in military transparency as it moves forward to becoming a global power, Defense Department officials said here today.

The officials briefed Pentagon reporters on background following publication of the 2007 Military Power of the People’s Republic of China report. The annual report to Congress covers key developments in China over the past year and changes in Chinese military strategy.

President Bush characterized U.S.-Chinese relations as good following his most recent visit with Chinese President Hu Jintao in April. He said the United States and China can work together to further security and economic prosperity in Asia and around the world.

The annual report to Congress reflects the U.S. view that China is an emerging regional military and economic power with global aspirations.

“It paints a picture of a country that … has steadily devoted increasing resources to their military that is developing some very sophisticated capabilities,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during a Pentagon news conference yesterday. Gates said the report is a realistic appraisal of Chinese security strategy.

Current relations with China have improved since the low point following the collision of a Chinese jet with a Navy EP-3 in 2001. Military-to-military ties are robust; there are troops visits and port calls. Military education exchange programs are being held at the senior and mid-level officer level. Joint military exercises are planned, and the two countries are working together on regional concerns – such as North Korean missile proliferation – and the danger bird flu presents. There are also discussions about disaster relief cooperation, officials said.

Gates wants China to have more transparency on military budgeting and strategy. The Chinese test of an anti-satellite capability in January caught the world by surprise and left many wondering what brought about that particular operation.

The official Chinese military budget is pegged at around $45 billion this year. But the real number could be as much as three times as high, officials said.

China’s defense budget is increasing by double-digit percentages per year, a rate that China has sustained for more than 15 years, fueled by the country’s remarkable economic growth, a defense official said. This year, the increase was 17.8 percent.

“We are convinced that China’s real defense spending is substantially higher – in the range of $85 billion to $125 billion in 2007,” the official continued.

This discrepancy between the official and actual figure is emblematic of U.S. concerns on transparency. Hiding these sums of money drives uncertainty over China’s intentions, the official said.

“It is not just a concern for the United States,” he said. “Many aspects of China’s military programs lead other nations to question China’s intentions and adjust their own behavior.”

Among the sums off the books are research and development expenditures, some military procurement, foreign purchases and dual-use technologies, officials said.

China is modernizing its forces. Officials said its newest missile -- the solid-fueled, transportable Df-31 -- could be used if needed. About 900 Chinese missiles are in place opposite Taiwan, compared with 710 to 790 missiles in late 2005.

China is developing home-grown advanced aviation and shipbuilding capabilities, and buying foreign – armaments, mostly from Russia. The report gives more information on Chinese moves toward building an aircraft carrier.

Overall, Gates said yesterday, the report is a balanced portrait of Chinese military capabilities.

“It paints a picture of a country that is devoting substantial resources to the military and developing, as I say, some very sophisticated capabilities,” he said. “We wish that there were greater transparency, that they would talk more about what their intentions are, what their strategies are. These are assessments that are in this publication. It would be nice to hear firsthand from the Chinese how they view some of these things.”
Biographies:
 

augreich

New Member
With China's economic growth it's only natural that they spend more on the thier military capabilities.
What worries me is the aligning of China, Russia, and Iran. The current state of affairs in this region is very concerning and will probably lead to another cold war; hopefully it will remain just that!
 

tphuang

Super Moderator
took a look at the report, I'm just wondering who they are paying to write these things. If that's the kind of intelligence that US DoD is gathering on China, then there are some serious problems.
 

Schumacher

New Member
took a look at the report, I'm just wondering who they are paying to write these things. If that's the kind of intelligence that US DoD is gathering on China, then there are some serious problems.
Errors in some of the equipment ? Can you pls list some of them ?
 

eckherl

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
took a look at the report, I'm just wondering who they are paying to write these things. If that's the kind of intelligence that US DoD is gathering on China, then there are some serious problems.
We tend to over inflate some of the numbers and capabilities on China so that the DOD can get a bigger defence budget, we did the same thing when dealing with Russia during the cold war.
 

tphuang

Super Moderator
We tend to over inflate some of the numbers and capabilities on China so that the DOD can get a bigger defence budget, we did the same thing when dealing with Russia during the cold war.
Actually, it underestimates certain capability and overestimates some other ones.
Errors in some of the equipment ? Can you pls list some of them ?
well, let's go through a list of things I disagree with:
- DF-31/A are much further along than what is credited for in the report.
- The stuff about 5 094s, I don't know what the real number is, but this just came out of absolutely no where (yeah, I know the ONI report, where did they get it from)
- I would not say that 051C has double the range of existing naval SAMs in PLAN, actually it's questionable that Rif-M even have longer range than HH-9. To me, it's a wasted class.
- I was under the impression 052Bs used 9M317 (SA-N-12)
- HH-16 has finished developed or else it would not be equipped right now.
- The entire section on Flankers is wrong, J-11B has nothing to do with Su-27SMK, if SAC is still building junk like that, it wouldn't get an order from PLAAF
- FB-7 (I'm assuming that are talking about JH-7A) here - is using Chinese produced weapons, which means KD-88, YJ-91, YJ-83K, LS-500J, not Russian ones.
- HQ-9 is being fielded right now in China, (not longer in development), although mostly in the Western regions.
- Air to surface missile - China is fielding far more than what's been mentionned there.
- cruise missiles - Russian ones were only bought because we bought the Russian systems launching them, their significance is overemphasized here.
- anti radiation - there is far more to PLA than harpy's and KH-31
- Yuan is not a new class, it's a modfication from Song to test out the domestic AIP engine + some other stuff.
- HQ-15 to me is just a rumoured class. HQ-12 and HQ-9 and PMU2 are the new ones being equipped right now.
- there are more than 20 DF-5
- in general, over emphasize the Russian component to PLA
 

tphuang

Super Moderator
The basic assumption being that the DoD is incorrect as compared to web reports. I think more accurately, these are the parts of the report that conflict with the info that we can access rather than the report being inaccurate (which we are certainly not in a position to confirm).

Its like counting aircraft. Paint 1 number today, repaint another tomorrow and transfer these to another base and we are made to think there are 2 aircraft instead of 1.
Well, it's the issue that we have photographs showing that they are clearly wrong. Again, I don't know who they are paying to write these reports. HQ-15 is entirely an Internet created concept.
 

jacklove

New Member
With China's economic growth it's only natural that they spend more on the thier military capabilities.
What worries me is the aligning of China, Russia, and Iran. The current state of affairs in this region is very concerning and will probably lead to another cold war; hopefully it will remain just that!
I hope it is no cold war. but some American treat with China like they treated with Soviet Union. Why make the report? China is a developing country,it's military power weaker than US's.
peace is good for all us. so hope DOD don't have the cold thinking to treat with China, for the future peace.
 

performance

New Member
With China's economic growth it's only natural that they spend more on the thier military capabilities.
What worries me is the aligning of China, Russia, and Iran. The current state of affairs in this region is very concerning and will probably lead to another cold war; hopefully it will remain just that!
That is a huge concern. Russian-Chinese relations are not that good so atleast there is some good news.

Reality is, US dominance comes closer to an end every year. Personally I wish the US government would just issue China an ultimatum about their growing military.
 

Viktor

New Member
Most of this report is copy-paste from one year before and so... nothing mutch new there...

@tphuang whats the status of DH-10 cruise missile?
 

tphuang

Super Moderator
Most of this report is copy-paste from one year before and so... nothing mutch new there...

@tphuang whats the status of DH-10 cruise missile?
it looks to be deployed. H-6K was shown to carry 6 of it a while back in a new photo.
 

BRAVE

New Member
I perceive a situation:

The Law of DIMINISHING RETURNS comes into play

"As more and more unts of a marginal product(heavy defence budgets)
are added to a fixed product(military),at a certain point the output starts declining.

Watch out
 

wp2000

Member
China doens't need such a strong military idk why they are pushing so hard in military funding
:) Chinese think US should only need 1/10th of your current military strength, yet you don't listen to us and cut your military.:unknown
 
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