As China Launches Aircraft Carrier, Taiwan Touts ‘Aircraft Carrier Killer’

On the day China began sea trials of its first aircraft carrier, Taiwan made what can only be described as a provocative move, displaying its newest anti-ship cruise missile in front of an illustration of what appeared to be China’s new carrier being hit by missiles.

Above the missile, known as the Hsiung Feng III, was a sign that labeled the weapon an “aircraft carrier killer.”

The missile was being displayed as part of a preview ahead of the annual Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition. Though there were no markings to indicate the carrier in the background illustration was Chinese, the ship featured a sloped runway similar to that of the Varyag – the Ukrainian carrier whose empty hull was used in the building of the new Chinese carrier, which has yet to be named.

Although the Hsiung Feng III has been discussed as a potential deterrent to China’s ships and aircraft carriers, it has never been explicitly described as an anti-carrier weapon.

Nonetheless experts played down the seemingly goading presentation of the missile, arguing that China is unlikely to see the missile as much of a threat.

Former Deputy Defense Minister Chong Pin Lin told China Real Time he thought the display was more geared to a Taiwanese audience as the growing military imbalance between China and Taiwan has become an growing concern in Taiwan. China’s military might has increased by leaps and bounds over the past twenty years as it has ramped up spending. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s president Ma Ying-jeou has recently come under fire for allowing defense spending to slip below 3% of GDP.

“This is likely for domestic consumption, it doesn’t mean anything to Beijing,” Mr. Lin said. “In fact, Beijing might like to see this because they want to see [president] Ma get re elected….and this tells our voters that the Ma administration is not being lax on defense.”

He also said that he did not foresee China utilizing its aircraft carriers to threaten Taiwan, as placing a carrier group in the Pacific or South China Sea would be too provocative.

Many analysts argue otherwise, pointing out that China has grown increasingly vocal in its territorial claims in the region and said its new defensive capabilities were being developed to help it enforce its claims. In a potential conflict with Taiwan, some analysts have argued, a carrier group would help keep the U.S. from intervening and could add to China’s ability to threaten a key Taiwan airbase on the island’s east coast at Hualien, where many of its F-16s are stationed.

It would be hard to deny the potential affect of a growing Chinese navy on the balance of power in the region and the resulting concern, but the hawkish display seems out of place given the historic thaw in cross-Strait ties that Mr. Ma has presided over in recent years.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday that it had no immediate comment but would issue a statement about the display on Thursday.

Regardless of whether the display was intended as a warning, it at least shows Taiwan is willing to challenge China in creating belligerent defense fair booths. Although not as technologically advanced as a Chinese display at the 2010 Zhuhai Air Show that showed unmanned aerial vehicles taking out a U.S. carrier, the vision of the missile suspended in front of an exploding aircraft carrier certainly makes an impact.

– Paul Mozur. Follow him on Twitter @paulmozur

Reforms started in the late 1970s with the phasing out of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, the foundation of a diversified banking system, the development of stock markets, the rapid growth of the non-state sector, and the opening to foreign trade and investment.

One demographic consequence of the “one child” policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world.

The People’s Republic of China is the world’s second largest economy after the United States by both nominal GDP ($5 trillion in 2009) and by purchasing power parity ($8.77 trillion in 2009).

Some economists believe that Chinese economic growth has been in fact understated during much of the 1990s and early 2000s, failing to fully factor in the growth driven by the private sector and that the extent at which China is dependent on exports is exaggerated.

Its mineral resources are probably among the richest in the world but are only partially developed.

The technological level and quality standards of its industry as a whole are still fairly low, notwithstanding a marked change since 2000, spurred in part by foreign investment.

Over the years, large subsidies were built into the price structure, and these subsidies grew substantially in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Globally, foreign investment decreased by almost 40 percent last year amid the financial downturn and is expected to show only marginal growth this year.

But “this is just a beginning.

It also aims to sell more than 15 million of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world each year by then.

In large part as a result of economic liberalization policies, the GDP quadrupled between 1978 and 1998, and foreign investment soared during the 1990s.

Agriculture is by far the leading occupation, involving over 50% of the population, although extensive rough, high terrain and large arid areas – especially in the west and north – limit cultivation to only about 10% of the land surface.

China is the world’s largest producer of rice and wheat and a major producer of sweet potatoes, sorghum, millet, barley, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and potatoes.

Livestock raising on a large scale is confined to the border regions and provinces in the north and west; it is mainly of the nomadic pastoral type.

Oil fields discovered in the 1960s and after made China a net exporter, and by the early 1990s, China was the world’s fifth-ranked oil producer.

China is among the world’s four top producers of antimony, magnesium, tin, tungsten, and zinc, and ranks second (after the United States) in the production of salt, sixth in gold, and eighth in lead ore.

In the 1990s a program of share-holding and greater market orientation went into effect; however, state enterprises continue to dominate many key industries in China’s socialist market economy.

The east and northeast are well served by railroads and highways, and there are now major rail and road links with the interior.

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As China Launches Aircraft Carrier, Taiwan Touts ‘Aircraft Carrier Killer’