In the early 2000s, many Chinese technology companies they became famous manufacturing thermal cameras, fiber optics or cheap electronic components for the civilian market. Two decades later, several of those same companies appear linked to one of the most ambitious military programs on the planet.
Xi’s missile factory. Reuters counted in an extensive report that China is manufacturing missiles at a speed that is beginning to transform entire sectors of its economy. What for years was a relatively opaque military ecosystem is becoming a gigantic industrial chain where dozens of private and state companies are skyrocketing income thanks to the accelerated rearmament promoted by Xi Jinping.
The most revealing data is not only the increase in chinese arsenalbut the number of companies that already partially make a living from it: manufacturers of infrared sensors, fiber optics, stealth coatings, 3D printed metals or specialized electronic systems are registering record profits while much of the Chinese economy is going through much more serious difficulties. Beijing has achieved something that few countries have achieved on this scale: merge civil and military industry to the point of converting missile development into a strategic economic engine.
The real target is further away than Taiwan. The island constantly appears as the center of any possible conflict in Asia-Pacific, but depending on the mediumthe Chinese missile deployment points to something broader. Beijing not only wants the ability to invade or blockade the island, it wants to prevent the United States from being able to intervene effectively. And there appears the true strategic objective located about 3,000 kilometers away: guam.
As we have counted At other times, the island functions as one of the main US military nodes in the Western Pacific, a huge air, naval and logistics platform from which Washington could sustain operations around Taiwan. That is why China has been developing systems specifically designed to threaten it for years, like the DF-26known precisely as “Guam Express”. Chinese military logic is relatively simple: If it manages to put Guam at risk, it greatly complicates the US ability to project power near its coasts and breaks one of Washington’s great strategic advantages in the region.
Economy oriented to manufacturing war. Plus: Xi’s program does not depend solely from state giants such as China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation or China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. The most striking thing is how civil companies seemingly normal have ended up integrated into the Chinese military ecosystem. Some began manufacturing thermal sensors to detect fever during the SARS epidemic and today produce components for missiles and military drones.
Others develop fiber optics for precision navigation or stealthy materials capable of reducing radar detection of aircraft and projectiles. The result is an industrial structure that is extremely difficult to isolate through sanctions, because many of these companies operate simultaneously in civilian and military markets. The United States has been trying to limit Chinese access to advanced chips and sensitive technologies, but Beijing has responded by expanding an increasingly extensive and autonomous national network of suppliers.
The effect of the war on Iran. The war between the United States and Iran has further reinforced this arms race. While Washington consumes part of its missile and ammunition reserves In the Middle East, China is carefully observing how modern wars are becoming conflicts of industrial attrition where the ability to manufacture and replenish weapons quickly begins to be as important as the individual technological quality of each system.
That is where Beijing believes it has an advantage. The reason? China already has of thousands of missiles ballistic and cruise able to cover much of the Indo-Pacific, and the expansion rate it’s still huge despite the purges internal affairs within the Chinese Army and the investigation of senior commanders for corruption. In some ways, Xi seems to be preparing the country for a prolonged scenario of military competition where whoever manages to keep production lines open the longest will survive.
The new global race. All of this is happening while much of the planet simultaneously accelerates its rearmament. France, South Korea, USA either Japan are increasing production and military spending, but the Chinese case stands out for its industrial dimension and by the speed at which it evolves. Beijing not only increases the number of missiles, it also develops new hypersonic generationsexpands its nuclear arsenal and tests systems capable of threatening aircraft carriers, air bases and targets thousands of kilometers away.
The big concern in Washington is that China is approaching a point where it can sustain a conflict long thanks to a combination of mass production, relatively low costs and enormous integration between civil companies and defense. That is why the growth of the missile program China is beginning to be interpreted less as simple regional rearmament and more as the silent construction of an economy prepared to compete militarily with the United States on a global scale.
Image | CCTV
In Xataka | China is beating the US with a simple strategy: manufacturing hypersonic missiles at the price of a Tesla
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