Hyderabad: Addressing the event President Xi at Tiananmen Square said, “No force can shake the foundation of this great nation. Today, the socialist China is standing in front the world.” Xi also further said, China’s military would resolutely safeguard the nation’s sovereignty, security, and development interests, and firmly uphold world peace.
In other words, he actually meant that China today was in a position to challenge the mighty and strategic supremacy of US. And, will not falter in protecting her geo-economic interests anywhere in the world. In fact, he was giving a clear and loud warning to all its adversaries, all the way from Taiwan to littorals of the South China Sea to the watershed of Mc Mohan line in India’s North East. Nearly 15,000 military personnel, more than 160 aircraft, and 580 pieces of weaponry and equipment were paraded in the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Marking the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Communist China.
The message was that China is a fully developed state, with an advanced military capability designed to challenge US strategic primacy. The PLA modernisation process, which began in the early 1990s. China is moving determinedly towards its goal of being a world-class military by 2035.
For a country like India, this parade should be a wakeup call for its defence planners. Some of the systems at display by China are a game-changer and futuristic in modern warfare. Chinese strategy of the nineties of “Local Wars under High-Technology Conditions” to 2014 guidelines of “informatization and integrated joint operations.” They have come a long way, in 2019 they talk of “System of Systems” and “System Destruction Warfare”. They appear to have bridged that gap and these concepts are not just paper capabilities, they are real. China displayed all that through this parade and messaging this to the world over from Tiananmen.
The equipment at display highlighted the Chinese Military’s capacity to employ “integrated combat forces” to prevail in system-vs-system operations featuring, speed, stealth, information dominance, long-range, precision, and joint operations.” This is the modern Maoist statement on “military strategic guideline of active defence”.
The most significant capability showcased was the DF-17 Hypersonic Glide Vehicle which delivers a warhead at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (faster than 3,800 mph). China has a lead over the United States in hypersonic weapons. The DF-17 HGV armed with either a nuclear or conventional warhead could pose a serious threat to US and her allies operating in the Indo-Pacific region.
Owing to its hypersonic speed, no defence against this weapon exists, making US aircraft carrier battle groups in the Asia-Pacific highly vulnerable. The Chinese also displayed the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which has entered operational service. It is the most powerful ICBM in the world, is road-mobile, and able to carry up to ten nuclear warheads. It has overtaken the Russian SS-18 Satan ICBM in capability. The US has nothing comparable, at least in terms of ground-launched ICBMs. This adds a layer to strategic survival and surprise.
Another game-changer on display was the Gongji-11 stealth attack drone, capable of attacking strategic targets without being detected. They pose a serious challenge to India’s strategic deterrence in place in her North East region. The sovereignty of the large territory in India’s control in that region is challenged by China.
China also showed a supersonic reconnaissance drone, called the DR-8, designed to work with PLA rocket force, navy and air force to dash in at high supersonic speed, locate a US carrier battlegroup, and pass the information on to strike forces, such as the DF-17, the Sharp Sword, and other systems.
Other military hardware on display included large numbers of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, China’s J-20 stealth fighter and the new H-6N strategic bomber. An array of YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and the DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missile systems of intermediate-range were displayed. Equipment displaying Advanced information and electronic warfare capabilities featured as well.
The systems on the show today beyond doubt highlighted that China is developing anti-access and area denial (‘A2AD’) capabilities to deny the US and its allies the ability to project military power and intervene in a regional crisis anywhere in the Indo-Pacific theatre. Advanced supersonic drones, hypersonic glide vehicles, sophisticated air combat capability, and missile systems are designed with this role in mind.
Nevertheless, these advancements pose a serious challenge regional powers like India who had stood up to the Chinese hegemony during the Doklam standoff of 2017.
For the US, that means it has to find a way to defeat Chinese ‘A2AD’ capabilities. And for India, it implies to speed up its capacity and capability building through indigenisation and rapid China-centric modernisation of her armed forces.
The 70th-anniversary parade at Tiananmen was a warning to all the neighbouring states like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, and India having a dispute with China, apart from the USA. For all of them ignoring China’s leap will be at their own peril.
- Col Danvir Singh, An expert on Defense and Strategic affairs
