July 27, 2005 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
An alleged “classified section” of the Pentagon’s 2005 China report may provide greater detail on China’s missile capabilities. The Taiwanese Central News Agency cites an article posted on a website which monitors Chinese weaponry(www.zgjunshi.com) as saying that the classified version of the Pentagon’s recent report on the military power of China specifies that the communist nation has nine brigades armed with ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. Of these, three are armed with the road-mobile Dong Feng-31 (CSS-9), and the other six with the silo-based Dong Feng-5 (CSS-4). The website also claims that China’s 094 submarines, armed with strategic missiles, have undertaken sea trials and could become a less expensive way for China to deploy its ICBMs. The article’s claims are unconfirmed, and the Taipei-based Central News Agency notes that “It was unclear how reporters from the China-based website were able to gain access to secret Pentagon information.”
The claims reported by the Taiwanese news service may, however, simply be a case of the Chinese demonstrating that the classified section of the document is within their reach, or perhaps of China making a statement about the report’s findings by means of an article posted online. (Article)
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» Missile details: CSS-4 (DF-5), CSS-9 (DF-31/DF-31A)
