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Military Superpower: China Muscling Up to the World

© AP Photo / Andy WongChinese People's Liberation Army cadets shout as they take part in a bayonet drills at the PLA's Armoured Forces Engineering Academy Base, on the outskirts of Beijing, China, July 22, 2014
Chinese People's Liberation Army cadets shout as they take part in a bayonet drills at the PLA's Armoured Forces Engineering Academy Base, on the outskirts of Beijing, China, July 22, 2014 - Sputnik International
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With the Chinese Navy leaving Russia’s behind and posing a serious challenge to the US’ naval might, Russian military expert Vasily Kashin told Gazeta.ru about China’s growing military muscle.

“China’s armed forces are the biggest around, which gives them a consistent edge over its Asia-Pacific neighbors and also the US forces stationed in the West Pacific,” Vasili Kashin said.

He added that even though technologically it still trails behind the US and Russia, China has done a lot of catching up in recent  years and in some types of weapons is now on par with the United States, Western Europe and Russia.

“The Chinese are now building fourth-generation fighter planes bristling with the most advanced radar systems, air-to-air missiles, along with modern air-defense missile systems, high-precision ballistic and cruise missiles,” Kashin noted, adding that China’s artillery systems, such as the PLZ-05 155 mm howitzers and A100 heavy multiple rocket launchers, win tenders leaving their Russian and Western competition empty-handed.

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China was the first to develop medium-range anti-ship ballistic missiles, which may usher in a new era in naval warfare, and could become the first country to deploy missiles capable of  shooting down low-flying spy satellites and even GPS satellites hovering up to 40,000 kilometers above.

In addition to this, China is developing a whole family of liquid- and solid-fuel ICBMs with multiple independently targetable reentry warheads.

According to US intelligence, the Chinese already have a quartet of nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles now in active service.

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“Not hamstrung by international nuclear arms reduction agreements, Beijing refuses to discuss any limitations arguing that it still lags behind the world’s main nuclear powers,” Vasily Kashin said.

Simultaneously, China is building up its naval might to guard its military and political interests in Africa and the Middle East with a number of US-like nuclear aircraft carriers already in the pipeline.

“All this means that China is building a war machine commensurate with the status of a superpower and meant to solve tasks well outside the Asia-Pacific region,” Kashin said in conclusion.

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