Pentagon: China continues arms buildup opposite Taiwan

China is continuing to deploy missiles and other weaponry near Taiwan despite the island’s new policy of detente, a senior Pentagon official told Congress.

Obama equivocation on U. S. support for Taiwan has encouraged China to be more aggressive against Taiwan , officially the Republic of China, is 180 kilometers off China’s coast and the 14,000 square mile island is home to 24 million.

Wallace C. Gregson, assistant secretary of defense for Asia and Pacific security affairs, previewed some of the anticipated findings of the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on China’s military power, due for release in March.

The major worry is China’s development of missile systems, he said.

“We see in China at least 10 varieties of ballistic and cruise missiles deployed or in development,” Gregson told the House Armed Services Committee. “China has the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile program in the world.”

Gregson said China’s Second Artillery Corps has deployed at least five operational short range ballistic missile (SRBM) brigades, each deployed within striking range of Taiwan. PLA ground forces control two additional brigades near the island.

“Over the past decade, China’s deployed conventional SRBM force has grown at a rate of approximately 100 missiles per year, and there are more than 1,000 SRBMs currently assigned to brigades opposite Taiwan,” he said.

Additionally, China has deployed some 490 combat aircraft within un-refueled operational range of Taiwan. Many are older jets, but “modern aircraft from Russia and China’s own F-10 fighter make up a growing percentage of the force,” he said. Russia has supplied China with large numbers of Su-27s and Su-30s.

“These improvements, combined with advances in China’s integrated air defense system, have reversed Taiwan’s historic ability to maintain dominance of the airspace over the Taiwan Strait,” Gregson said.

“In the future, an increasingly sophisticated array of armaments, and the development of aerial re-fueling will further improve China’s offensive air capabilities.”

Gregson warned that of a risk that China may miscalculate and believe that it has “reached the tipping point in the Taiwan Strait and issue an ultimatum.”

The result is that “China may use its military to exercise coercion against its neighbors; and risks that misunderstanding or miscommunication between the United States and China could lead to confrontation, crisis, or conflict.”

China also has built up large submarine forces, including nuclear missile submarines, new nuclear and diesel attack submarines and advanced warships, Gregson said.

China is also building space weapon capabilities, including direct ascent, ground-to-space anti-satellite missiles, laser weapons and satellite jammers, Gregson said.

Beijing appears to have developed sophisticated computer attack capabilities that could be linked to the Chinese military, he added.