(CNN) -- Images believed to be of China's next generation of military air power have been buzzing around the internet, but Pentagon officials are insisting it does not mean China has matched American air capabilities.
The new Chinese stealth fighter jet, known as the J-20, isn't supposed to be operational until at least 2017, but a Chinese air force commander told Chinese TV in 2009 that flight testing would begin much sooner. Stealth jets, such as the United States' F-22, are designed to evade detection by radar and anti-aircraft defenses.
Now unknown sources have posted photos of what appears to be the plane on an airfield runway in southwestern China. "We are aware of their plans to develop this fifth-generation fighter," Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said Wednesday. "The photos that were released recently are presumably of some taxi testing."
At a Thursday briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei declined to comment on reports on China testing the jet.
"China insists on a path of peaceful development," he said. "We have adopted a national defense policy that is defensive in nature and do not threaten any other countries. China has been an important force in maintaining regional and global peace."
The emergence of the photos comes as Defense Secretary Robert Gates heads to China this weekend to discuss the military relationship between the U.S. and China. And later this month, President Hu Jintao will go to Washington for a summit with President Barack Obama.
One China watcher says Beijing's failure to censor the grainy images on the web proves the photos are of the new jet and the country wants them to circulate.
"The Chinese military and the police could have swept the area around the airfield very easily, but what they've done is they've controlled this. They've allowed Chinese to only take photos with cell phones, meaning that the photos that we have are low-resolution, do not give us a great deal of detail about the aircraft and they're put on the web with a low-resolution format," said China military scholar and author Richard Fisher.
"The response within China has been overwhelmingly positive and has spurred national pride to an enormous degree."
The Pentagon is taking a low-key approach to the surge in publicity about the Chinese fighter, saying their existing top-of-the-line warplane has engine problems and that their next plane is years away. But Fisher says that timeline could be sped up if the Chinese buy an engine from Russia as opposed to developing it themselves.
"It's something that is in some form of development, as a fifth-generation fighter.
As I noted, the Chinese are still having difficulties with their fourth-generation fighter," Lapan said in an off-camera question session with journalists in his office.
And he said that while the new jet was not mentioned in the Pentagon report on China that was sent to Congress in August as an annual update for China's defense capabilities, the Defense Department has talked about it.
"We as a department have publicly spoken about it in the past. It is not as if we have not acknowledged that they are pursuing a fifth-generation fighter," Lapan said. "So we are aware of it. But it is not of concern that they are working on a fifth-generation fighter."
Fisher, however, says it should be a concern, citing the Chinese jet's potential ability to overtake that of America's F-22 in thrust and "supercruise" speed, which is the ability to fly supersonically without using fuel-guzzling afterburners.
"We can't say precisely what the capabilities are, but we have a good idea. Right now, we should be reviving production of the F-22 and not just reviving production, we should be developing an advance version of the F-22," said Fisher. "And sadly, even though it is a troubled program, already the F-35 needs another rework. It needs to be made competitive with this fighter."
The F-22 was scaled back in production in 2009. The production of the F-35, which is being developed and tested, could be slowed under Gates' budget-cutting initiative.
In 2009, Gates said that no nation comes close to the United States' air power, and he anticipated the Chinese having only "a handful" of fighters that challenge the U.S. advanced fleets by 2025. But Fisher cautions that this Chinese jet could cause a change in the balance of power in the Pacific.
"Since World War II, the American military has never gone into battle without the assurance of air superiority. China is a rising power, and it is determined to challenge the American position globally," said Fisher. "This fighter will allow them to do that on a military level... and from my perspective, that's simply unacceptable."
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Israel pleads to President for spies release ...
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly appealed to U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, promising Israel would never again spy on the United States in the way Pollard did.
"Jonathan has suffered greatly for his actions and his health has deteriorated considerably," Netanyahu argued. "The people of Israel will be eternally grateful" to Obama if he pardons him, he added.
"Both Mr. Pollard and the government of Israel have repeatedly expressed remorse for these actions, and Israel will continue to abide by its commitment that such wrongful actions will never be repeated," Netanyahu said in a speech in Israel's parliament, the Knesset.
"At the time of his arrest, Pollard was acting as agent of the Israeli government. Even though Israel was in no way directing its intelligence efforts against the United States, its actions were wrong and wholly unacceptable," Netanyahu said, reading aloud the letter he sent to Obama.
The White House has received the letter and "will review it," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Tuesday.
Netanyahu agreed in December to formally request the release of Pollard, a former
U.S. Navy intelligence analyst who was caught spying for Israel in 1985 and was sentenced in 1987 to life imprisonment.
He has already served 25 years of his sentence.
In December, Pollard's wife hand-delivered a letter from Pollard to Netanyahu, pleading for help.
Many Israeli leaders over the years have requested Pollard's release, Netanyahu observed in his letter to Obama.
"Since Jonathan Pollard has now spent 25 years in prison, I believe that a new request for clemency is highly appropriate," he said.
"Jonathan Pollard has reportedly served longer in prison than any person convicted of similar crimes, and longer than the period requested by the prosecutors at the time of his plea bargain agreement," he added.
The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on Netanyahu's request for Obama to release Pollard.
Then-CIA Director George Tenet threatened to resign in 1998 if then-President Bill Clinton pardoned Pollard, Tenet wrote in his autobiography.
Netanyahu, who was prime minister at the time, offered to make concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians in exchange for Pollard's release, Tenet said.
Iran says "We have nothing to hide" when it comes to nukes. West skeptical.
Iran has invited foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear facilities, ahead of fresh talks with key world powers over its controversial nuclear programme.
The offer was reportedly extended to Russia, China and several EU countries, but not the US.
US State Department spokesman, Philip J Crowley, has dismissed the offer as a "clever ploy".
Many Western countries suspect Iran is developing nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its programme is peaceful.
US 'snub'
"The representatives of some European Union countries, NAM [Non-Aligned Movement], and some representatives of the five-plus-one [world powers] have been invited to visit our nuclear sites," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters.
He said the invitation was part of the Islamic republic's attempt to demonstrate "co-operation with the IAEA", referring to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"It's a clever ploy, but it's not a substitute for Iran's responsibilities to the IAEA”
Philip J Crowley
US State Department spokesman
China, a close economic ally of Iran, has confirmed it was among the invitees, but foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not say whether any of its diplomats would go.
Asked specifically whether a US representative would be invited, Mr Mehmanparast said in Tehran: "The list of the countries invited for the visit will be unveiled when it is finalised."
But the New York Times reports that the invitation has "pointedly snubbed" the United States, citing European diplomats close to the negotiations.
Washington, which has been spearheading the campaign for sanctions against Iran, swiftly dismissed the offer.
"It's a clever ploy, but it's not a substitute for Iran's responsibilities to the [International Atomic Energy Agency] IAEA," Mr Crowley told the New York Times.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Monday, January 3, 2011
Bin Laden Top Aid Killed In Predator Strike
Islamabad: Nasir al-Wahishi, a top al-Qaeda commander, who reportedly served as an aide of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a US drone attack in northwestern Pakistan on December 28.
Al-Wahishi, 32, a Yemeni national, who presided over the January 2009 merger of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni splinters of al-Qaeda, was killed in the year end.
Wahishi was killed when two missiles were fired on a militant camp at the Ghulam Khan sub-district of North Waziristan, Kyodo reported quoting Pakistani officials.
Al-Wahishi is among four top al-Qaeda commanders killed in American drone strikes which assumed unprecedented proportions in 2010.
Those killed by US missiles include al-Qaeda number 3 Abu Mustafa al-Yazid, Sheikh Fateh al-Misri, al-Qaeda's operations head for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who replaced Yazid.
The two other commanders killed were Abdallah Umar al-Qurayshi, who co-ordinated Osama bin Laden's Arabs in Afghanistan, and explosives expert Abu Atta al-Kuwaiti.
The drones have also felled top Taliban commanders including its chief Baitullah Mehsud and the trainer of suicide bombers Qari Hussain Mehsud.
The officials claimed Wahishi had served as secretary of bin Laden until 2003. He was arrested in Iran and extradited to Yemen in 2003. The al-Qaeda commander was among 23 Yemeni captives who made a dramatic escape from maximum security prison in Sana'a, in 2006 and was at large since then.
The Yemeni figures in the Interpol's Orange Notice as well as US State Departments and UN Sanctions List.
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