[Richard]

The pol-mil chessboard - and the games go on...

China's Military Flexes Its Muscle
USAToday, 28 Jul 2011

As the Pentagon plans for U.S. forces to exit Iraq and Afghanistan, it is keeping one eye trained on the rising threat in the East. For two decades China has been adding large numbers of warships, submarines, fighter jets and — more significantly — developing offensive missiles capable of knocking out U.S. stealth aircraft and the biggest U.S. naval ships including aircraft carriers.

At the same time, China has announced that its territorial waters extend hundreds of miles beyond its shores, well into what its neighbors and the United States consider international waters. It has installed more than 1,000 ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, a democratic island nation and U.S. ally. Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan all have complained to the United States about confrontations on the high seas with China.

China says it is simply developing defensive weapons and protecting its interests. But military analysts say the United States appears to be taking a different view, citing the Pentagon's development of a new class of bombers that can fly for long periods outside of the reach of radar.

The Long Range Strike Bomber "is a deterrent to those who would seek to deny our access," says Air Force Maj. Gen. Noel Jones, director of operational capability requirements for the Air Force.

Jones doesn't mention China as the potential adversary for the bomber. He doesn't have to, says Roger Cliff, an independent defense researcher, specialist on China and former Pentagon official.

(cont'd) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...military_n.htm

And so it goes...

Richard