China to further enhance anti-missile capabilities

The upgrades to the ground-to-air forces in China would be a solid step toward increasing national security, Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke said. "Through innovation, ground-to-air defence troops are able to deal with far-range, medium-range and short-range missiles, which can come in on high, 

medium and low altitudes," the official media quoted him as saying.

"The capability of China's air defence and anti-missile systems has greatly improved in the information age we live in. Our ground-to-air forces are now a powerful force to safeguard China's airspace sovereignty," he said.

The upgrade plans come in the backdrop of the US and South Korea's move to deploy the American Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea to counter missile strikes from North Korea.

China has strongly opposed the move, saying that the system not only poses a threat to the stability of the Korean peninsula, but to China as well, as its radar systems will be able to penetrate into the Chinese territory.

Earlier this month, Chinese aero space officials said the country’s next-generation cruise missiles would be developed on a modular design, allowing them to be tailor-made for specific combat situations with high level of artificial intelligence.

"We plan to adopt a 'plug and play' approach in the development of new cruise missiles, which will enable our military commanders to tailor-make missiles in accordance with combat conditions and their specific requirements", Wang Changqing, director of the General Design Department of the Third Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp said.

"Moreover, our future cruise missiles will have a high level of artificial intelligence and automation. They will allow commanders to control them in real time, or to use a fire-and-forget mode, or even to add more tasks to in-flight missiles," he added.

China had last year for the first time displayed its Dongfeng-21D missile, the anti-ship ballistic missile described as the "carrier killer", which caused concern among the US defence officials as it could it could blow up aircraft carriers from a distance of 1,500- 1,700 km. Dongfeng-21D, along with long and short-range missiles, were displayed at the country’s biggest military parade last year here held to mark the 70th anniversary of victory against Japan in World War-II. 

China on Monday called on all parties concerned to maintain restraint and remain calm over the ballistic missile launch by North Korea last week. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a statement issued by the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Friday, condemning the launch as a “grave violation” of Pyongyang’s international obligations under Security Council resolutions, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We hope all parties can refrain from doing things that may irritate others or escalate the tensions,” she said, adding that the signal sent by the UNSC “needs to be comprehensive and balanced”. The Security Council has adopted five resolutions – 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), 2094 (2013) and 2270 (2016) – to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, in which the latest one, adopted in March, imposes the most severe sanctions yet on the country, including an export ban and asset freeze.