Home » International » China Goofs: The Week Ahead

China Goofs: The Week Ahead

By Colin Clark Sunday, January 30th, 2011 5:08 pm
Posted in International, Policy, Rumors

Only a truly authoritarian regime could generate such wonderful irony as China did when an official broadcaster apparently showed footage from the Top Gun movie and portrayed it as film from a recent military exercise.

That comes after the PRC’s president Hu Jintao had to tell Defense Secretary Robert Gates in mid-January that he did not know that the the supposedly stealthy J-20 was to have been unveiled during Gates’ visit.

With China playing such a prominent role in defense news over the last few months — there are those carrier plans, the fancy anti-carrier missile, the J-20 — we’ve asked well-respected China expert Dean Cheng at the Heritage Foundation to enlighten Buzz readers with his analysis of President’s Hu’s visit and just how US-China military and strategic relations are really faring.

Congress is pretty much out for the week. Expect to hear more budget posturing from all sides. At the Pentagon, the senior folks and the public affairs types will be polishing up their budget presentations, which are slated to roll by the middle of February. By the way, this is the first of a regular weekly look ahead that Buzz readers can catch each weekend.

Join the Conversation

	ClovisMan January 30th, 2011 at 9:00 pm Wonder if the Chinese are trying to make us go bankrupt like the Former Soviet Union? It is a viable strategy to make us react to every news article or scary picture of new technology. We would then keep spending ourselves into a hole and keep developing every program, no matter how viable, over cost or under-performing. We need to follow Sec. Gates because he is the only one who is capable of understanding the whole defense of America picture. He had a lot of insight in proposing program cuts before congress decided to do it for him.
	Jim savage January 30th, 2011 at 9:12 pm Defense “A defense budget in decline portends an America in decline. It will undermine our ability to project power, strengthen our adversaries and weaken our alliances,’ Cong Howard mcKeon It is noteworthy that the Marine Corps has been targeted for the heaviest cuts as a proportion of force strength. The Marine Corps provides America with a great part of its capability to intervene in a crisis. With a smaller Marine Corps America’s strategic options are significantly reduced – all at a time of numerous threats and serious instability in the world. For obama, major defence cuts serve two purposes. First, they free up funds for things important to him – such as growing the welfare state. Secondly, the cuts reduce the role of America in the world and limits America’s ability to combat threats to allies and vital interests which facilitates his anti-colonial anti-American Leftist worldview that America is basically a negative force in the world for its opposition to “progressive” movements. Obama’s proposed cuts need to be seen as what they truly are. It’s not about controlling spending—it’s about minimizing the role of America in the world.
	Guest January 30th, 2011 at 9:14 pm Gates has proven himself to be nothing but a lackey to Barry obama’s desire to unilaterally disarm the USA. Little barrys pastor of 20 yrs ‘gd america’ j wright must be proud.
	Trophy January 30th, 2011 at 10:02 pm Uh-oh! This article mentioned the Heritage Foundation. Look out folks, prepare for Byron’s diatribe.
	Trophy January 30th, 2011 at 10:04 pm With the USMC’s greater integration of it’s naval, aviation, and ground assets, I’m surprised none of the budget extremists haven’t mentioned disbanding the other services and just keeping the smaller, harder trained USMC.
	George B. January 30th, 2011 at 10:04 pm Congratulations on your myopic and intransigent partisan rant. There’s a reason you don’t debate or argue with partisans … they are unable to eloquently use factual data as anchor points to a discussion and they are unable to elegantly navigate the ebb-&-flow of debatorial shift. Next!
	Ben W January 31st, 2011 at 1:14 am Well said George.
	Oblat January 31st, 2011 at 6:53 am You can just feel Hu glowing with embarrassment when he released that China goofed and built a F22 class stealth fighter for 1/50th the cost. Why cant we pour money down the toilet like the American JSF he raged to his aids ! At this rate we will catch up years ahead of plan ! You have to understand that in Chinese culture face is everything and the worst thing you can do is embarrass an American.
	Cocidius January 31st, 2011 at 11:42 am PRC’s president Hu Jintao knew nothing about the test flight of the J-20, and yet he had earlier given an award (January 6th) to the director of the engineering design team that built the prototype WS-10G Chinese engines that powered the stealth fighter on its first test flight. That’s quite a nice little head game that they’re playing with our Sec. DEF. The elaborate PR show of slowly leaking images to the west to work up the aerospace world, and then flying the aircraft “publicly” for the first time during Mr. Gates visit was all contrived to make a point while terrifying the other nations on the Pacific rim. http://www.sinocism.com/archives/1539
	Guest January 31st, 2011 at 12:45 pm Oblat– Calling the J-20 an F-22 class stealth fighter is like saying that a Buick and a Bentley are the same, simply because they are both cars. If I’m not mistaken, the Chinese have exactly two J-20’s (we have around 180 F-22s), and the total flight time they’ve logged can be measured in tens of hours. The stealth capability is unverified, the flight capabilities and payload characteristics are unverified. Not to mention we don’t even know how advanced the avionics and radar packages are, or will be. Many members of our defense apparatus are completely unafraid of the J-20, because it’s still in the development phase. Development of a 5th generation fighter takes DECADES. Just look at the development timeline for the F-22 or JSF. The Russians don’t even have a deployable 5th gen. yet, and their military industrial complex is years ahead of what the Chinese can boast. The only thing we know for certain is that the J-20 is a plane, and it can fly. In that one respect, it is in the same class as the F-22. As to the cost, how do you know it was 1/50th the cost of the F-22? Have the Chinese released a cost analysis on the two planes they did manage to get in the air? A word of advice: Don’t start yelling that the sky is falling unless you have some data to support your claims (and unless you work for the CIA or DIA, my guess is that you don’t have much).
	Gregory Savage January 31st, 2011 at 1:07 pm More senselessness. We are talking about China, and your talking about um last years news. Get over it already.
	pleuris January 31st, 2011 at 3:22 pm Wow this makes sense! Maybe because there’s no poitics in it?
	freefallingbomb January 31st, 2011 at 4:06 pm To the poster “Guest” ——————___——– Part 1 / 2 You wrote (to “Oblat”) : “As to the cost, how do you know it was 1/50th the cost of the F-22? Have the Chinese released a cost analysis on the two planes they did manage to get in the air? A word of advice: Don’t start yelling that the sky is falling unless you have some data to support your claims.” 1) Most sources claim that a J-20 costs roughly the same as an U.S. American F-22 or F-35. ( And NEVER PRETEND that you “Freedom-of-Information-Act-inventing” U.S. Americans are any more honest and transparent about your 5th-generation-fighters’ REAL costs than the dictatorial Chinese!!! I just LOVE dismantling those claims, cost estimate after cost estimate!) (Continued)
	freefallingbomb January 31st, 2011 at 4:07 pm Part 2 / 2 However, I think I discovered how “Oblat” reached the 1/50th figure. 1/50th is 2 % , right? Soo, read this: “Production of 20 aircraft per year beginning in the 2014 timeframe at US$110 million per plane would still probably account for only about 2% of China’s defense budget.” http://www.andrewerickson.com/2011/01/j-20-fighte… (Chapter “Ability to move to mass production”, last phrase) (Psst: Listen “Oblat”, I got you out this time, so next time Byron hammers me into a corner you help me out, too, capice?? We trolls gotta team up against the serious posters) ———————————————————————————————————————— 2) You wrote: “…and unless you work for the CIA or DIA, my guess is that you don’t have much” WHO still needs to “work for the C.I.A. or the D.I.A.” to get a hold of all international, classified, government informations? We’ve got Wikileaks now!
	War Pony January 31st, 2011 at 9:01 pm Don’t look now and shoot the messenger . . but, Book of Revelation, chapter 9 “9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.” “China could and would produce a 200 million man army to intervene in any war taking place in Israel stopping the the flow oil.” http://www.groupsrv.com/groups/view.php?c=&g=…
	Eric January 31st, 2011 at 9:32 pm I guess the Chinese don’t understand American culture .… if they didn’t think that 1 of 3 Americans males between the ages of 34–40 would recognize that scene? They likely don’t understand the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, either — we have an edge in there somewhere!
	Oblat January 31st, 2011 at 9:40 pm You’re just speculating wildly. I’ll wait until 2020 when we will see the first J-20 prototype fly.
	War Pony January 31st, 2011 at 9:47 pm I would proffer that we have (at least — try 13) the Six Degrees of the Covenant — for the Creator is Home. And, remember, Crystal most likely got canned because he called NATO the “money Masters” and everyone should be aware that the nation of Israel (Rothschild’s baby) is not THE Tribes of Israel — welcome home sons and daughters of the united States~! Bacon may be “0” — but, we are THE “1” — lighthouse of freedom. … where did I put that pipe!?
	Tenn Slim February 1st, 2011 at 9:42 am It is noteworthy that the Marine Corps has been targeted for the heaviest cuts as a proportion of force strength. The Marine Corps provides America with a great part of its capability to intervene in a crisis. With a smaller Marine Corps America’s strategic options are significantly reduced – all at a time of numerous threats and serious instability in the world. Guess who is going to rescue the remaining US Citizens in Egypt, North Africa and probably the desert nations. THE USMC. Semper FI
	mgunns February 1st, 2011 at 10:55 am Okay why don’t you say what you really mean.
	Joseph February 1st, 2011 at 11:06 am George said — He’s congradulating you on your narrow mindedness. When you’re up to your butt in alligators ; know which way to run! LOL

NOTE: Comments are limited to 2500 characters and spaces.

By commenting on this topic you agree to the terms and conditions of our User Agreement

DoD Buzz

China Goofs: The Week Ahead

Join the Conversation

Recent Comments