War games role for orbiting surveillance
China will for the first time use mainland-launched satellites in military exercises off the Taiwan Strait, the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po said yesterday.
Beijing was preparing its biggest drill yet near the Dongshan Islands off Fujian, the paper said, after earlier reporting that a military satellite and two civilian global-positioning satellites would take part in the war game.
In the third phase of the drills, code named 'Liberation Number One', the PLA would simulate an invasion of the Taiwan-controlled Penghu Islands, the daily said, without naming sources.
The exercise also was the first to employ the China-developed Yun-12 early warning planes in performing reconnaissance duties, it said. The exercise would include a policy mapped out in the event of the US using cross-strait conflicts as an excuse to attack the mainland. The paper did not give any specific details.
The report came after the Washington Times earlier this month alleged China used civilian satellites to spy on US forces in the Asia-Pacific region.
Citing US intelligence officials, the Times said China's military used a new reconnaissance satellite called Ziyuan Two to take pictures of US military facilities in the area.
