China Herald: What the US Navy can learn from the Beijing parade

Wendell Minnick

Apart from showing grandeur, the huge Beijing parade showcased also a large amount of new weaponry. Defense analyst Wendell Minnick saw some new features that should certainly get the attention of the US Navy, he writes in Defense News, 20 years after the Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis.

Wendell Minnick:

China showcased its growing capability to deny the US Navy access to the maritime domain of both the East China Sea and South China Sea during a celebratory parade Thursday commemorating the 70th anniversary of its victory over imperialist Japan.

Parade officials commented that 80 percent of the weapons on display had never been exhibited to the public before, and all the equipment was Chinese-made and operational. Though this is a fair statement, three fighter aircraft that took part in the parade are actually pirated copies of foreign fighter aircraft, including the J-11B (Sukhoi Su-27), carrier-borne J-15 (Su-33) Flying Shark, and the J-10 (Israeli Lavi).

The parade showcased for the first time a variety of ballistic missiles under the command of the Second Artillery Corps. Mark Stokes, a China ballistic missile specialist at the Project 2049 Institute, said that leading each parade formation were corps leader grade officers – chief of staff, chief engineer or deputy commander.

"It appears that each of the six missile bases were represented with a new missile system," he said.

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