China’s improved defences

The various members of the imperialists’ club, known in the media as the ‘international community’, are raging about the terrible danger to the whole world emanating from the development of new tactical weapons by the Peoples’ Republic of China.

This cowardly group of pirates, murderers and thieves, who accuse the PRC of ‘upsetting the military balance’ of the world, have enough weapons to destroy the planet many, many times over (US imperialism could wipe out all life on the planet all by itself), and regularly use the existence of these weapons of mass destruction to blackmail and bully the rest of the world.

Indeed, it is the thought that a real balance might be struck between their own devastating power and that of one of their intended victims that terrifies the imperialists, and the USA in particular. The US military uses ‘war games’ on and around Taiwan and off the coast of the DPRK to threaten China. It indulges in non-stop spying from the air, land, space, and sea.

Moreover, the US practises methodical interference in Chinese internal affairs on a huge scale. It uses both the broadcasting airwaves and the internet to spy on China and to mobilise potential saboteurs of Chinese socialism. It sponsors rebellions, unrest and civil war through its management and bankrolling of various religious and intellectual groups.

And, where occasion has allowed, the US military has directly targeted China with its weapons, as was the case when it used the cover of Nato’s criminal bombardment of Yugoslavia to drop a GPS-guided precision bomb on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

Given the above existing state of affairs, along with all the US provocation, spying and interference carried out against China’s historical ally and neighbour, the DPRK, any fair-minded person should be able to understand that China, like the DPRK, is keen to develop and upgrade its weapons. It is faced with an imperialist enemy that has proved its willingness to drown whole countries in blood in order to obtain control over markets and raw materials and to make sure that potential competitors do not wriggle out from under its boot. If China is not able to defend itself, it knows the imperialists will show it no mercy.

The Chinese have developed a new missile, called the Dong Feng (East Wind) 21D, which is specifically designed to sink aircraft carriers. This carrier-buster missile is now fully operational, according to US Admiral of the Pacific Fleet Robert Willard. It is said to have a range of 900 miles and therefore the ability to endanger any aggressive US naval action around China or its near neighbours.

A US aircraft carrier costs approximately £12.8bn, not to mention the cost of all its planes and the 6,000 crew members on board. These floating airbases have been virtually invulnerable up to now, and have therefore dominated the seas around China, but the US Navy will have to think long and hard before committing any of them to aggressive actions against the People’s Republic (PRC) from now on.

The PRC has also been developing a new stealth fighter plane, which American ‘plane-spotters’ have speculated might be able to beat the currently world-leading US F-22 in a dogfight. This plane is not yet operational, but given China’s huge resources and its determination to end the military dominance of the US over our planet, it will surely not be long before it is.

Meanwhile, China recently bought a huge Soviet-era aircraft carrier from Russia. This has now been re-fitted and named the Shi Lang. It will make its maiden voyage later this year, amid further speculation among US China-watchers that within 10 years there could be another five such vessels in the Chinese marine fleet.

Moreover, more US sources are suggesting that China now possesses batteries of cruise-type missiles, as well as medium and long-ranges missiles (capable of hitting targets 4,000 miles away) that can be fitted with conventional or nuclear warheads.

While it is true that such speculation by US strategists may be aimed at deflecting criticism from that country’s current and planned aggressions around the world, it is nevertheless without doubt that the PRC has no intention of meekly allowing the US or any other imperialist power to bully and/or wage war on it without being able to hit back and hit back hard.

The US dream of world domination, which was a work in progress for most of the last century, now lies in tatters, destroyed by the resistance forces in the Middle East, as well as by the military advances in China and elsewhere.

We join progressive people around the world in demanding an end to imperialist spying on and provocations against China, and in applauding the PRC’s latest military developments.

All sane, peace-loving people would prefer to see a world with no weapons at all, but while imperialism exists, and continues to arm itself to the teeth; while it continues to use its military supremacy to plunder and oppress, and to prolong its senile existence, we must learn the hard lessons of history and encourage all anti-imperialists to arm themselves.

It is the aggressive weapons of imperialism that threaten our world, not the defensive weapons of the socialist and anti-imperialist countries. Indeed, the cases of north Korea and Iraq have proved conclusively that it is the possession of strong weapons which is the best safeguard against imperialist attack and therefore the best preserver of peace.

Hands off China!

> US moves to threaten China as Cheonan farce collapses at UN – August 2010