Strong air force keeps China's skies peaceful
- Source: Global Times
- [02:21 November 10 2009]
- Comments
While an aerial show and skydiving exhibition scheduled for Sunday to mark the 60th anniversary of China's air force were postponed due to heavy fog in Beijing, public pride and confidence in the rapidly modernizing air force have been ignited across the country.
The anniversary, which falls tomorrow, has also triggered speculation among some Western media outlets.
The celebrations have been described as "the third major military display this year" following the naval review on April 23 and the national day military parade on October 1, and the purposes behind China's air force modernization have been scrutinized as if China were starting a space arms race.
As for the Chinese public, it has every reason to take pride in its own air force.
Six years after the Wright brothers invented the world's first successful aircraft, Feng Ru took the first Chinese-made aircraft to the skies. His legacy of "saving the nation by aviation" has been carried on by generations of China's air force aviators.
The past six decades have seen an increasingly strong "Great Wall" built in China's skies against foreign invasion.
The air force has been transformed from a poorly equipped corps with only about 90 pieces of aircraft to one with roughly 2,000 pieces of aircraft and more than 600,000 members.
What is more impressive is that the Kongjing-2000 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft, the J-11 fighters and many other sophisticated pieces of aerial weaponry are domestically produced.
But as for some Western media outlets, the skyrocketing growth of China's air force should not feed their speculation on the intentions behind the nation's military modernization.
China's armed forces, including the air force, have always been defensive in nature, and China has reiterated its pledge to pursue peace in the world, and never to seek military expansion or an arms race.
While the air force has been catching up in its journey toward becoming a modern force, there is still a long way to go before it can really keep China's skies peaceful.
