fatman17
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Date Posted: 02-Oct-2009
Jane's Defence Weekly
Chinese parade demonstrates PLA's ongoing transformation
Trefor Moss JDW Asia-Pacific Editor - London
Key Points
China has unveiled a raft of new defence systems at the country's largest military parade to have been held in a decade
The PLA's new DH-10 land attack cruise missile was one of a number of previously unseen capabilities
China staged a massive military parade in Beijing on 1 October to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.
However, experts were divided as to whether the military capabilities on show marked a serious advance for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) or whether the event - only the third large-scale military parade to have been held in China in the space of 30 years - was merely of symbolic significance for a Chinese Communist Party seeking to restate its ruling credentials.
Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, who was in charge of the event, told the Xinhua news agency in the run-up to the National Day parade that 52 new weapon systems would be on display.
In particular, there was a great deal of speculation that the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which has a presumptive range of up to 14,000 km, would appear in the public for the first time, alongside the JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile, which will arm the PLA Navy's (PLAN's) new Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.
In the event, the PLA debuted neither system at the parade, although a range of other capabilities did appear for the first time. Notable among these was the new DH-10 land attack cruise missile; also present, though unveiled previously, were the DF-31A ICBM and DF-21C (DF-25) anti-ship ballistic missile.
New armoured vehicles on show included the ZTD-05 amphibious assault vehicle, the ZBD-09 8x8 infantry combat vehicle and the ZBD-03 airborne combat vehicle.
The PLA Air Force's KJ-2000 AWACS aircraft made its official debut, while other aircraft on display were believed to have been carrying new weapon systems. The PLA also demonstrated progress in one of its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programmes, with the inclusion of the Xi'an ASN-207 UAV in the ground parade apparently confirming the system's operational status.
While some of the new systems were important from a tactical standpoint, "the parade is not the real story behind the PLA", according to David Finkelstein, director and vice-president for China Studies at CNA.
"The real story is the remarkable progress that the PLA has made since 1993 - when the PLA issued its 'Military Strategic Guidelines for the New Period' - in becoming an operational force based on institutional processes."
The parade, he said, was just a "symbolic demonstration of what has been happening for a very long time", while what was truly significant was the PLA's ongoing transformation into a "maritime, littoral and air space player in the Asia-Pacific region, as opposed to being just a land-locked, continental service".
The long-term trend, he said, was that the PLA, while still having a long way to go before it could match Western militaries, was "holistically and methodically enhancing its weapons and technology".
Date Posted: 02-Oct-2009
Jane's Defence Weekly
Chinese parade demonstrates PLA's ongoing transformation
Trefor Moss JDW Asia-Pacific Editor - London
Key Points
China has unveiled a raft of new defence systems at the country's largest military parade to have been held in a decade
The PLA's new DH-10 land attack cruise missile was one of a number of previously unseen capabilities
China staged a massive military parade in Beijing on 1 October to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.
However, experts were divided as to whether the military capabilities on show marked a serious advance for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) or whether the event - only the third large-scale military parade to have been held in China in the space of 30 years - was merely of symbolic significance for a Chinese Communist Party seeking to restate its ruling credentials.
Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, who was in charge of the event, told the Xinhua news agency in the run-up to the National Day parade that 52 new weapon systems would be on display.
In particular, there was a great deal of speculation that the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which has a presumptive range of up to 14,000 km, would appear in the public for the first time, alongside the JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile, which will arm the PLA Navy's (PLAN's) new Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.
In the event, the PLA debuted neither system at the parade, although a range of other capabilities did appear for the first time. Notable among these was the new DH-10 land attack cruise missile; also present, though unveiled previously, were the DF-31A ICBM and DF-21C (DF-25) anti-ship ballistic missile.
New armoured vehicles on show included the ZTD-05 amphibious assault vehicle, the ZBD-09 8x8 infantry combat vehicle and the ZBD-03 airborne combat vehicle.
The PLA Air Force's KJ-2000 AWACS aircraft made its official debut, while other aircraft on display were believed to have been carrying new weapon systems. The PLA also demonstrated progress in one of its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programmes, with the inclusion of the Xi'an ASN-207 UAV in the ground parade apparently confirming the system's operational status.
While some of the new systems were important from a tactical standpoint, "the parade is not the real story behind the PLA", according to David Finkelstein, director and vice-president for China Studies at CNA.
"The real story is the remarkable progress that the PLA has made since 1993 - when the PLA issued its 'Military Strategic Guidelines for the New Period' - in becoming an operational force based on institutional processes."
The parade, he said, was just a "symbolic demonstration of what has been happening for a very long time", while what was truly significant was the PLA's ongoing transformation into a "maritime, littoral and air space player in the Asia-Pacific region, as opposed to being just a land-locked, continental service".
The long-term trend, he said, was that the PLA, while still having a long way to go before it could match Western militaries, was "holistically and methodically enhancing its weapons and technology".
you are naive if you still believe China is going to do manufacturing for the coming decades.
...
, you'll end up 
and 
- all is fair, no?
)
