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发帖数: 807 | 1 Gates: China confirms stealth jet test-flight
8:36am EST
By Phil Stewart
BEIJING (Reuters) - China confirmed it held its first test-flight of a
stealth fighter jet on Tuesday, a show of muscle
during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates aimed at defusing
military tensions between the two big powers.
Gates said Chinese President Hu Jintao told him the maiden test-flight of
the J-20 fighter jet prototype, which could
eventually help narrow the military gap with the United States, was not
timed to coincide with his visit.
"I asked President Hu about it directly, and he said that the test had
absolutely nothing to do with my visit and had
been a pre-planned test," Gates told reporters.
Asked whether he believed that, Gates said: "I take President Hu at his word
that the test had nothing to do with my
visit."
A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hu and other
civilian leaders at the meeting with Gates
did not appear aware the J-20 test-flight had happened before the U.S. side
pressed them about it.
"When Secretary Gates raised the question of the J-20 test in the meeting
with President Hu, it was clear that none of
the civilians in the room had been informed," the official told reporters.
The flight of the J-20 may have been timed to coincide with Gates's visit to
signal to Chinese people, including military
officers, that Beijing was not bowing in the face of U.S. pressure, said Jin
Canrong, a professor at Renmin University in
Beijing who specialises in China-U.S. relations.
Ardently patriotic Chinese, including some outspoken military officers, have
urged the government to press Washington
harder over Chinese complaints about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and U.S.
military activities in seas and skies near
China.
"This is a kind of military transparency and it's also possibly an internal
signal," Jin told Reuters.
"Some people may feel that China is looking too weak and this is to show
some muscle," he said. "This says, 'We're
not weak. We're also developing our own technology."
INTERNET ACCLAIM
Beforehand, reports about the test flight of the jet, which could
potentially evade detection by foes, in the southwest
Chinese city of Chengdu had been widely circulated on Chinese Internet blogs
and online news sites.
They showed pictures of a fighter plane in flight and some offered what were
cast as running accounts of the J-20
stealth jet fighter taking off after midday for a short flight from an
airport in Chengdu.
The website of the Global Times, a popular newspaper owned by the People's
Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main
paper, featured a brief report headlined: "J-20 first flight successful".
It published a link to what it said were pictures of the flight (here).
In recent days, Chinese Web sites and some popular newspapers, which can
come under a heavy grip of censorship,
have carried many reports and pictures claiming to show the stealth fighter
being tested on the ground.
But apart from Hu's remarks to Gates, the government had been silent about
the fighter.
The latest pictures may heighten concern about China's military build-up,
including possible deployment in 2011 of its
first aircraft carrier and a new anti-ship ballistic missile seen as a
threat to U.S. aircraft carriers.
Some analysts have said that the J-20 photos suggest that China may be
making faster-than-expected progress in
developing a rival to Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor, the world's only
operational stealth fighter designed to evade
detection by radar.
But U.S. Vice Admiral David Dorsett, director of naval intelligence, has
said deployment of the J-20 is years away.
Xu Guangyu, a retired Chinese major general who works for the China Arms
Control and Disarmament Association,
agreed.
"There would have to be at least a thousand flights between the plane's
maiden flight and its military deployment," Xu
told Reuters. "There's no reason for a hue and cry."
(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley and Sabrina Mao; Writing by Chris
Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills and Ron
Popeski) | g*******g
发帖数: 132 | 2 Gates was slammed on his face. TG is too evil. | m**********2
发帖数: 6568 | 3 "When Secretary Gates raised the question of the J-20 test in the meeting
with President Hu, it was clear that none of
the civilians in the room had been informed," the official told reporters."
演技真出色啊。 |
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