By Greg Torode
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -From an upgraded, nuclear-armed missile with near-global reach, to air defence lasers, hypersonic weapons, and sea drones that could crowd its near seas, China sent a broad message of deterrence with its largest ever military parade on Wednesday.
Military analysts and diplomats saw China’s leader Xi Jinping using the event to signal a diverse group, from the United States and its allies, to neighbours and regional powers India and Russia, as well as potential buyers of technology.
“For all the operational questions that surround some of these new elements, China was sending a message of technological advance and military strength on all fronts – there is a indeed a lot for rival defence planners to get their heads around,” said Singapore-based security analyst Alexander Neill.
For the first time, China displayed its full nuclear triad of weapons that can be deployed from land, sea and air, including a re-tooled intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-5C, with a range of 20,000 km (12,400 miles), and a new road-mobile long-range missile, the DF-61.
Beyond the strategic level, China’s military was also showing it was determined to dominate its near seas as well.
The comprehensive range of new weapons could complicate the plans of the United States and its allies in any conflict in East Asia, said James Char, a China defence scholar at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
“The combination of the (sea) … drones they have and also the missiles, it will create an area that external navies couldn’t even enter to intervene,” Char said.
More broadly, Char and other analysts said, China was possibly also keen to show smaller nations that it now stood as a “guarantor of peace” amid doubts about the U.S. political, diplomatic and military role worldwide.
Specifically, the new torpedo-shaped drones and array of hypersonic triad weapons would be a serious threat for the United States and its partners.
That is even more so when they are combined with China’s growing number of DF-26 medium-range ballistic missiles carrying controllable warheads that could target ships and bases such as Guam.
Analysts have long said China would have to effectively secure control of the South and East China seas in any conflict over Taiwan to ensure success, which is no easy task, given the traditional dominance of the United States across East Asia.
Beyond the neat demonstration of precision and discipline on display at the parade, question-marks remained about the full capabilities and ranges of the new weapons.
While China showed off new weapons it said were operational, it is another matter whether that is the case, said military expert Chieh Chung, a researcher at the Taipei-based Association of Strategic Foresight.
“Some weapons may still be in limited deployment to units, undergoing ‘field testing during deployment,’ and may not yet be fully standardised or ready for mass production,” he said.
Char, Neill and other analysts pointed to the high degree of technology on show, particularly in an apparent desire to meld together various systems with air defences, battle management systems and drones.
A new main battle tank, the Type-100, was unveiled, for instance, bristling with new systems, including air defences and reconnaissance drones.
Newly formed aerospace, cyberspace and information support units were also on show, demonstrating a willingness to compete in advanced space and electronic warfare realms.
“Western militaries may still have an operational edge, but there is no doubt China is wanting to show it is rapidly catching up,” said Neill, adding that the United States is generally more cautious about detailing weapons being developed.
“I do wonder if there is an element here of China being eager to sell this technology to other militaries … there was after all a little gimmickry here too,” he added, pointing to a dog-like robot in the lineup.
(Reporting by Greg Torode in Singapore, Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in Taipei and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez)
