The other day, Drudge *cringe* linked to Bill Gertz's latest; this one on a super secret Chinese sub base.
Commercial satellite photos made public recently provide a new look at China's nuclear forces and bases images that include the first view of a secret underwater submarine tunnel.
We're thrilled the guy has cultivated such great contacts in the Pentagon, but he's such a half-assed ideologue he needs the indulgence of a Washington Times to get his shtick published. Is Chinese military buildup a threat? If so, make your argument and persuade. Don't try and manipulate me with obvious crap articles. For example:
Disclosure of the underground bases supports analyses of Pentagon and intelligence officials who say China is engaged in a secret military buildup that threatens U.S. interests, while stating publicly that its forces pose no threat.
Gertz has long been an activist in intra-Pentagon struggles, to the detriment of his readers. Do I wish the Chinese government spent less GDP on military modernization? You bet. But in order to help his source build hype for waging bureaucratic warfare, Gertz leaves out some facts known to the most casual Tom Clancy reader. First, China's ballistic missile submarine force amounts to:
The Type 092 (NATO code-name: Xia class) is China's first and only ballistic missile nuclear submarine (SSBN).
It entered service in 1988. (There was supposed to be a second that was launched, but it was never operationally deployed and is rumored to have sunk in '85). Second:
Operations of the Type 092 SSBN have been limited and the boat has never sailed beyond Chinese regional waters.
To put it less kindly, the Xia is a piece of shit. And I doubt the PLN has any confidence in its ability to actually fire its missiles (it has a mixed launch record, dating back to the 1980s.) It's role is more symbolic for a China desiring international parity with the United States and Russia/USSR. As for the "disclosure" of the ultra-secret underground submarine base, Jeffrey Lewis rolls his eyes:
I see Gertz has put his usual spin on the document, suggesting that Hans et al found evidence of “China’s hidden military buildup.”
That is most certainly not what they found, as the bunker was constructed in the 1970s. If the bunker is associated with a buildup, it was one that happened during the Mao-era. Deng Xiaoping actually canceled construction of a follow-on SSBN, leaving China with the lone (not operational) Xia-class SSBN for the past 20 years.
For the curious, you'll see Jeffrey's post is actually informative.
Recent Comments