China’s mock-up US aircraft carrier target is message to Washington, experts say
- New shooting range’s distance from launch sites is warning for American warships and bases in Yokosuka and Guam, they say
- People’s Liberation Army has made mock-ups of US aircraft carrier and other ships for missile target practice, satellite images suggest
China’s new weapons-testing range containing a mock-up US aircraft carrier is aimed at deterring military intervention by Washington in regional security issues, defence observers said.
“Compared with their previous tests and based on the sizes of warship mock-ups, [the images suggest that] the PLA has stepped up tests to target smaller and more mobile vehicles this time,” said Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung.
“Judging by the [new shooting range’s] distance from the PLA rocket force’s launch sites in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, the new range for missile tests is over 2,500km [1,550 miles], meaning not only American warships would be targeted, but also the US military bases in Yokosuka and Guam.”
01:10
China builds full-scale mock-ups of US warships in area used for missile target practice
The anti-ship missile testing programme is led directly by General Zhang Youxia, the second in command in the Central Military Commission, chaired by President Xi Jinping, according to a military insider.
“China wants to show the US that the PLA is able to hit its warships at sea and military bases in the Indo-Pacific precisely,” said the insider, who requested anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.