US suspects China is training pilots for nuclear mission
CHINA is suspected of training pilots for missions against US and allied targets, the Pentagon has warned.
In a report US defence chiefs also said China’s air force “has been re-assigned a nuclear mission” and was developing its fleet of long range bombers.
The report said: “Over the last three years the People’s Liberation Army has rapidly expanded its overwater bomber operating areas, gaining experience in critical maritime regions, and likely training for strikes against US and allied targets.”
Pentagon analysts said China may be developing a capacity to hit US military bases in the western Pacific Ocean, including Guam. It was developing a “stealthy, long-range strategic bomber with a nuclear delivery capability” that could be operational within the next 10 years.
The deployment of the nuclear-capable bombers would for the first time give China a nuclear “triad” of delivery systems across land, sea, and air.
The report was an annual update on Chinese military developments which the Pentagon delivers to Congress.
In response Beijing accused the US of having a “Cold War mentality,” and said that the report was “irresponsible”. A spokesman for China’s defence ministry said: “We demand that the US side abandon the Cold War mentality, to view China’s national defence and military construction with objectivity and rationality.”
In May the Chinese flew nuclear-capable H-6K bombers to an artificial island in the South China Sea for the first time. Earlier this year the US released a new defence strategy identifying “long-term strategic competitions with China” as a main priority.
The latest report also highlighted China’s plans to put floating nuclear power stations on disputed islands in the South China Sea that could be vulnerable to typhoons.
It said: “China’s plans to power these islands may add a nuclear element to the territorial dispute.”
The report was released as the US and China were set to resume trade talks later this month over tariffs they have imposed on each other.