China flaunts cruise missile power amid South China Sea row?

Amid deepening row with the US over disputed South China Sea where American ships challenged China’s claims of sovereignty, Chinese military has deployed its latest anti-ship cruise missiles which experts say can form a powerful defence line at sea.

“The deployment of the latest YJ-18, together with the YJ-12 and YJ-100, has enabled the Navy to deter any foreign navies from approaching its defence areas,” state-run China Daily quoted unnamed strategy researcher in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as saying.

“Few countries have developed advanced anti-ship missiles over the past decade as China has done,” he said. 

Yin Zhuo, director of the PLA Navy’s Expert Consultation Committee, told China Central Television that no one has succeeded in intercepting a sea-skimming missile even if it is flying at a subsonic speed, so taking down a missile flying at Mach 3 will be very difficult. “Compared with anti-ship ballistic missiles, the YJ-18 and YJ-12 will prove to be more useful, because even though ballistic missiles have a longer range and larger destructive power, their launch preparations are more complicated and their use is more likely to escalate a conflict,” the researcher was quoted.