- The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is conducting
a massive military space program intended to support combat operations
far from the motherland.
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- The PLA has recently put two back-to-back military reconnaissance
satellites into orbit, demonstrating a rapid-paced and advanced program.
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- The PLA placed the FSW-21 (Fanhui Shi Weixing) spacecraft
into orbit on August 2, firing the film recovery photo satellite into space
on top of a Long March 2D rocket. On August 29, the PLA recovered the spacecraft
after 27 days in space taking medium-resolution images of the United States,
Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
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- On the same day, August 29, the PLA orbited FSW-22, another
three-ton film recovery satellite. The Long March 2D rocket was launched
from the same pad site at the Jiuquan space flight center in the Gobi Desert.
The FSW-22 spy satellite is expected to make a parachute return to Chinese
territory in late September.
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- The FSW recovery capsule weighs 1,650 pounds and carries
the satellite cameras and exposed film. By orbiting two FSW spacecraft
back to back, the Chinese army can examine several weeks of continuous
photographic coverage of target areas in Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
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- In 2003, the new series of FSW satellites code-named
Jian Bing came into service, starting with FSW-18. There have been five
launches in this series, including the latest FSW-22, which have been identified
as two spacecraft subgroups.
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- The satellites are launched in pairs, a low-orbit mission
followed soon after by a high-orbit mission. It's not clear whether the
vehicles are two different spacecraft designs, but the longer life for
the lower-orbit mission suggests that it is a different design altogether.
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- The Chinese military is expected to share the space images
with its allies, including North Korea. In fact, North Korea needs the
images in order to re-target long-range SCUD and No Dong missiles against
recently re-deployed U.S. forces in South Korea.
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- Pyongyang will also be very interested in the firing
positions of new long-range South Korean missiles recently moved to the
DMZ that divides the two nations. The South Korean Tactical Missile System
Block 1A missiles have a range of 186 miles.
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- U.S. Eye on China
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- U.S. officials expressed concerns over the growing Chinese
military capability illustrated by the recent back-to-back space flights.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill voiced his concerns during
a recent interview with Aviation Week and Space Technology.
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- The Bush administration is concerned about "what
we felt to be an out-sizing of Chinese military capabilities and, more
problematic, the lack of transparency," stated Hill.
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- Washington also expressed a deeper concern over growing
tensions between Japan and China. The deterioration of relations between
Tokyo and Beijing hit a low last year when a Chinese nuclear submarine
deliberately violated Japanese territorial waters, a rash move that can
be considered an act of war.
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- "Japan is a maritime power that has to be concerned
about the Chinese Navy's force projection capabilities (and threats) to
sea lines of communication and the issue of raw materials from Southeast
Asia," said Hill.
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- "Its a very thin web, especially in Northeast Asia,"
noted Hill.
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- According to U.S. officials, Japan no longer feels it
has to endure Chinese aggression without response. The growing Chinese
navy fleet, including a large submarine force, is pressing Tokyo to increase
its own defense budget.
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- Chinese Carrier
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- There are additional rumors that China is preparing to
build its first aircraft carrier. The PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy)
purchase of the 56,000-ton Varyag in early 2002 from Russia gave the Chinese
valuable information on the design and construction of an aircraft carrier.
It was rumored that China has decided to construct her first carrier around
2010, but this has not been confirmed.
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- However, the close military ties between Moscow and Beijing
are continuing with the reported purchase of a massive military airlift
fleet from Russia. The Russian news service Novosti reported that China
and Russia are in talks on a possible deal to sell as many as 30 IL-76
Candid transport planes and an unknown number of IL-78 Midas tankers to
the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
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- "The Russian-Chinese commission for military and
technical cooperation will discuss China's purchase of some 30 IL-76 planes
from Russia and the possibility of buying IL-78 planes at a September session,"
states the Russian report.
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- Novosti confirmed that prices would be set at a meeting
between Russian and Chinese officials prior to issuing the final contract.
Novosti also suggested that these aircraft were involved in the recent
Peace Mission 2005 Russian-Chinese military exercises, and China was very
interested in acquiring the heavy-lift transport aircraft.
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