Saturday, January 8, 2011

From Special Request: China's J-20 Stealth Fighter

One of the more intriguing news coming out of China recently was photos taken of a prototype stealth fighter jet.  Aimed at rivalling the US Air Force’s F—35, the dubbed J-20 sparked much debate in both government and public sphere.  

From questions about its authenticity to the timing of its release in the public eye, it certainly sparked more questions than answer. However, what is certain as some analysts point out is that China “is making faster-than-expected progress in developing a rival to Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor” (Reuters). One of the most interesting things to point out in all of this is its closeness to military talks between the US and China where US Defence Secretary Robert Gates will be in Beijing for. Whatever its motive is, one of the consequences of revealing such a prototype to the public is raising fears amongst other nations. From the “aircraft carrier killer” missile to the prototype of a stealth fighter, it will surely point towards more apprehension and anxiousness from neighbouring and Western countries.

Perhaps that’s exactly what China wanted from all of this?  

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good article.

It is good to see China's build up of military strength as the as the Asian nations around China is starting to build up their military as well. South East Asian countries such as Malaysia has already purchased more submarines. China is playing a role in peace keeping in the region but they should be more honest with their budget spending. They recently reported an 80b in military expenditure but actually they are spending more than 150b. I think this artificial number will cause more nations to panic and cause more tension between neighbouring countries.

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