-Caveat Lector-
Chinese exercise targets Taiwan, US Troops
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
China's army conducted a military exercise last month with simulated
missile firings against Taiwan and also for the first time conducted
mock attacks on U.S. troops in the region, according to Pentagon
intelligence officials.
The exercise began in late November and ended in early December as
road-mobile CSS-5 medium-range missiles maneuvered along China's
coast, said officials familiar with a Dec. 2 Defense Intelligence
Agency report on the exercise.
Disclosure of the Chinese exercise comes as officials in the Clinton
administration said efforts are under way to soften the conclusions of
a congressionally mandated report on missile defenses and missile
threats in Asia,including new details on the rapidly growing Chinese
missile arsenal.
According to sensitive intelligence gathered by U.S. satellites,
aircraft and ships that monitored the Chinese exercise, People's
Liberation Army units, including those equipped with
intermediate-range CSS-5s and silo-housed CSS-2 missile units
practiced firing missiles at Taiwan.
Intelligence information also indicated that the U.S. Army troops
based in South Korea, and Marine Corps troops on the Japanese island
of Okinawa and mainland Japan were targeted with strikes. "They were
doing mock missile attacks on our troops," said one official. White
House spokesman David Leavy said he could not comment on intelligence
matters.
A senior administration official confirmed that the missiles were
CSS-2s, first deployed in 1971, and CSS-5s, first fielded in the
1980s. Both weapons had "never been pointed our way before," the
senior official said. "The important point is these are not new
missiles." The official did not address the threat the Chinese
missiles posed to the 37,000 troops based in South Korea, and 47,000
troops in Japan, including about 25,000 Marines on Okinawa.
The intelligence report also raises questions about the recent
statement of Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who announced during the
June summit in Beijing that he and President Clinton agreed "we will
not target each other with the strategic nuclear arms under our
control."
The Chinese leader told reporters June 27 that the detargeting "shows
the whole world that China and the U.S. are cooperative partners
instead of adversaries." Pentagon officials said, however, the
simulated attacks are a sign China is prepared to go to war with the
United States over the issue of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a
breakaway province and not an independent nation.
The vulnerability of U.S. troops in Asia to missile attacks is a
sensitive issue. North Korea has deployed medium-range Nodong missiles
that also can hit troops in both Korea and Japan, although the
Pentagon has been reluctant to acknowledge the threat. During the
recent exercise, the Chinese mobile missiles were observed erected on
truck launchers, but none was actually fired, said officials who
declined to be named.
One military official said the exercises also showed China's growing
capability to counter U.S. laser-guided bombs, using what the Pentagon
calls "obscurance." The masking involves spraying clouds of small
particles around the missiles that cause laser tracking devices to
bounce off their intended targets and fool adversaries guiding the
bombs into believing the weapons are on target.
The CSS-2 was the only intermediate-range missile ever exported. China
sold a battery of the missiles to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. According
to an earlier Pentagon intelligence report, China is engaged in a
major program to upgrade its 40 CSS-2s with newer and more capable
CSS-5s, which come in two versions.
Liquid-fueled CSS-2s, with ranges of about 1,922 miles, are being
replaced in some regions by solid-propellent CSS-5s that have a
maximum range of 1,333 miles, the 1996 report said. During the Taiwan
straits crisis of March 1996, China fired short-range M-9 test
missiles north and south of the island in what U.S. officials said at
the time was an attempt to intimidate Taiwan shortly before its first
presidential elections. Those exercises led the Pentagon to deploy two
U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups to waters near the island.
Regarding the report due to reach Congress Jan. 1, the Pentagon has
been held up from sending the report to the House Armed Services
Committee because of disagreements with its conclusions. The senior
official said the delay is due to "normal interagency discussion about
an important national security issue" and that it will be sent to
Congress "in a timely manner."
The report to Congress examines the possible components for regional
missile defenses in Asia that would have the capability of protecting
key regional allies from missile attack.
It was mandated by the fiscal 1999 defense authorization bill and will
include descriptions of U.S. missile defenses that could be
transferred to key allies in Asia for "self-defense against limited
ballistic missile attacks," according to the legislation requiring it.
According to officials familiar with the draft report, the Pentagon
study shows that China is engaged in a major strategic missile buildup
of several types of weapons that political officials are reluctant to
publicize for fear of upsetting the Chinese government.
China's government is opposed to deployment of U.S. missile defenses
in Asia because they could counter Chinese missiles.
The White House and State Department's East Asia bureau are said to be
seeking to water down some of the harsh conclusions of the report,
while the Pentagon and CIA want it to present unvarnished views of the
Chinese missile threat, according to officials close to the debate.
Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said the China missile report is being
worked on and could be released later this week or early next week, or
"perhaps later." Richard Fisher, a China specialist at the Heritage
Foundation, noted that the Chinese may not view the June detargeting
pledge to include shorter-range nuclear missiles, only long-range
intercontinental ballistic missiles. But Mr. Fisher said the targeting
of U.S. forces in the recent exercise "highlights the most important
aspect of any future Chinese military threat to the region." "Chinese
doctrine puts special emphasis on missile forces -- concealing mobile
forces for obtaining surprise, and using a wide variety of current and
future nuclear and nonnuclear warheads," he said.
The exercise also highlights the need to build regional missile
defense for American forces in Asia and to help protect allies, he
said. Officially, the Pentagon said it does not know of the
threatening missile-targeting activities.
Mr. Bacon said he would not comment on any specific intelligence
report, "but I can tell you we are not aware of a simulated attack
against U.S. troops in Asia during a missile exercise."
Copyright © 1999 News World Communications, Inc.
--------
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-President William Clinton State of the Union Address 1998
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