China says stealth jet test flight not a threat

China told the United States on Wednesday its first test flight of a stealth fighter jet should not be seen as a threat and reiterated it had no intention of challenging US military might in the Pacific. China confirmed on Tuesday it held its first test flight of the J-20 stealth fighter jet, a show of muscle during a visit by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates that sought to defuse military tensions between the two powers.
The flight came against a backdrop of a massive Chinese military modernisation program. China's plans to develop aircraft carriers, anti-satellite missiles and other advanced systems have alarmed neighbouring countries and Washington. "China is showing off that its defences have been strengthened to a high level," said Ahn Yinhay, a professor at Korea University in Seoul.
"The United States has been ... questioning whether China is targeting the US, to which China is replying implicitly and explicitly that it is fully equipped with high-tech weapons." US and Chinese defence-related ships have jostled in seas near China in past years, and in 2001 a mid-air collision between a US surveillance plane and a Chinese air force fighter caused a diplomatic stand-off. China has always said its military modernisation is needed to protect the country's development and interests, to maintain regional stability and to upgrade sometimes woefully outdated equipment.
"The People's Liberation Army has no ability, and even more than that, has no intention, to challenge America's territory and global military advantage, and does not have any aims to pursue military hegemony in the region," Rear-Admiral Yang Yi wrote in a commentary for the overseas edition of the People's Daily. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, speaking to reporters ahead of a state visit to the United States by President Hu Jintao next week, repeated that the test flight was not aimed at any country or to coincide with Gates' visit.
"No other country has reason to feel worried or troubled about this. What you've raised (about the stealth flight) had nothing to do with Defence Secretary Gates's visit or with China-US relations," Cui said. In Washington, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was not surprised at the development because he had long observed that "China is investing in very high-end, high-tech capabilities."