அக்கரைச் சீமையிலே - News from other countries

China's weapons exceed self-defence needs: US military

The United States said Monday it found "troubling" China's admission that its weapons systems capability exceeds levels Beijing itself has defined as necessary for its self-defence.

The head of the US armed forces in the Asia-Pacific, Admiral Timothy Keating, said he was told by Chinese leaders during a visit to Beijing that its "area denial weapons" were "to protect those things that are ours". But he said, "we find it troubling that the capabilities of some of these weapons systems would tend to exceed our own expectations for protecting those things that are 'ours'". Keating said the United States had "intelligence that reinforces my opinion that China is developing, fielding and has in place weapons that could be characterised as having, amongst perhaps other purposes, an ability to restrict movement in and around certain areas on the sea, in the air or under the sea. "I'll go back to the point we made a couple of times already - that we understood PRC (China's) intentions, not just their transparency, not just the fact that these weapons exist. We know they exist," he said.

"It's why are they being fielded," Keating asked, speaking at a Washington forum of the US-based Asia Society. The Pentagon fears China's area-denial arms, including missiles, can be used to attack US aircraft carriers and ships, reports have said. "The PLA (China's People's Liberation Army) appears engaged in a sustained effort to develop the capability to interdict, at long range, aircraft carrier and expeditionary strike groups that might deploy to the western Pacific," according to the annual Pentagon report last year to the US Congress. "Increasingly, China’s area denial/anti-access forces overlap, providing multiple layers of offensive systems, utilizing the sea, air, and space," the report said. The United States fears a Chinese military buildup could blunt any US intervention in a conflict over Taiwan and challenge US naval access to the Asian region.

A year ago, China used a ballistic missile to destroy a Chinese weather satellite in low Earth orbit, causing worries in Washington that Beijing could disrupt US military satellites in a regional conflict. In addition, a Chinese submarine approached a US aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected. To a question by a Chinese diplomat at the forum, Keating said he did not think the two countries should set a special criteria for military transparency but sought what he called an "inter-agency approach" to facing challenges.