I think the Chinese would be buying the Tu-22M5 for Anti-Shipping reasons, not just for conventional land attack, because they already have a lot of platforms that can strike Taiwan. What they need is someting like the Kh-32 or whatever and a good platform to carry it.

My 2 cents:

IMHO, the Chinese are not concerned with or have any intentions
whatsoever about Taiwan, unless of course the Island uses force to break from
its hereditary Chinese connections and declares nationhood.

The Chinese platforms, be it of Tu-22s, sub forces, balistic missile batteries, whatever,
are therefore not there to threaten the Taiwanese public. IMHO, they are platforms placed
stragetically in the Taiwan Straight to keep watch over foreign forces who may decide
to indiscriminatedly flex its muscles simply because they have muscles to spare.

Japan and Vietnam are such fine examples, historically of course ;)…

:p

Another “all time favorite”… The “G” series!

What can I say but that old habits are hard to die out!

:p

😮

Strange… Is the almost intentional blurring of this
already well known well publicized A/C still necessary? Or is this merely
somebody’s idea of his/her savvy in photoshopping???

( Related pic: http://bbs.china.com/images/2004-07-26/1090829458pic.jpg )

In any case, the pic looks almost familiar. But, where???

This one is also cool, IMHO, .
http://bbs.china.com/images/2004-07-25/109072065910363947530105.jpg
But, will it make its debute? Ever???

More mysteries… What on earth are
http://bbs.china.com/images/2004-08-11/109219675635356.jpg
they trying to fiddle with here, I wonder?

Hmmm… With well groomed designers as this, the end product
http://bbs.china.com/images/2004-07-24/1090651682A.jpg
has to be top rated and it has to be first class, my opinion!!!

Landing gears?
http://bbs.china.com/images/2004-07-24/1090673668.jpg
Or other utilities????…

Hmm, I guess there is a difference then. Yuan could still be a smaller version fo the 09X, with a few differences.

My recollection:

About a year and a half or two years ago, there were rumors
flying all over the net that the Chinese are working on, or was doing upgrades
to their existing Kilo’s or of the Chinese carbon copies of this sub.

At the time, rumors of the exitence of a Yuan Class was
already circulating wildly on web along with the speculations that
two 093 too has already been launched with one fully commissioned
to the PLAN and the other on sea trial along with one 094.

Hence, it was speculated, was the reason
for the EP-3 to be where it was and thus resulting in the collision
between the J-8 and the EP-3 in early 2000.

The EP-3, it was speculated, was on a mission
to try and keep a tab on the progress of these supposedly
super quiet and highly classified Chinese subs.

Personally I think it could be a new Kilo. Is this China’s Kilo copy? Or is this one of the new enhanced Kilo 636 with the Clubs? Maybe the Kilo 636 reporting can be in error, but this is a new Kilo variant.

It’s got to be a Kilo. No way it’s a Song, man. But it’s not like any
Kilo we have seen before. The stabilizers are there for real, not fake. This is a new Kilo *and* a new Kilo variant.

I also wish to add that the first of the 8 new Kilos China ordered from Russia was already launched one or two months ago.

If a new Kilo, then, US Naval Intelligence would say it’s a
Russian Kilo. They definitely wouldn’t have give the Chinese more credit
than they like them to have. I bet it’s in between an 091 and and an 092 or, what’s
decribed in the net as a redesigned/upgraded Han class.

Personally I think it could be a new Kilo.

The hump on the Kilo’s hull does not extend as far to the front of
the sub (this design similar to German product) as this one does and, it does not
have as many torpedo tubes (5 tubes on visible side) as this one.

Remember: This sub was first spotted by US Intelligence.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040716-123134-8152r.htm
It was not done by some two bit computer geek on a PC.

More envious rusty buckets, shall we say :)???

Lately, there has been friction over drilling platforms in the E. China Sea, and now
the Japanese SDF White Paper explicitly lists concern over the rise of Chinese power. Will we
see another potential conflict between the two asian nations in the next 10 years?

E. China Sea drilling platforms:

Went through that report briefly myself. But, more than just frictions
over Japan’s drilling in what’s deemed as the green line (Or was it the blue line?), there has also been disputes
over the Island chain known as Ryukus, or something like that anyhow.

Regardless, Japan has always been a big mouth in the region because
she has always used the US as a shield, or as a bargaining chip, when dealing with
the Chinese. Therefore such actions by Japan is no surprise whatsoever.

More than that, I think everyone in the region does that (Uses the US
as bargaining chip) because of America’s military might in the region. But, these
tit for tats shouldn’t lead to war because, the Chinese, even in the military status they’re in today,
will not risk intimidating the US because “the US is its bread and butter”.

I mean aside from the odd whinnings
and complaints, will you dual it out with the guy who signs your paychecks?
I don’t think any of us are that brave.