According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on November 14, Wang Xiangsui, a retired colonel of the Chinese Air Force and director of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Strategic Issues Research Center, held a closed-door meeting at the “Moganshan Forum” held by the National Development and Reform Commission of China in Zhejiang Province in October. He revealed in the meeting that the Chinese military launched the “DF-21D” known as the “aircraft carrier killer” and the “DF-26B” medium-range missile with a range of 4,000 kilometers into the South China Sea in August, and stated that both kinds of missiles hit the default mobile target ship near the Paracel Islands.
Previously, critics had argued that anti-ship ballistic missiles were not suitable for demonstrations of force compared to H-6 bombers and that their use would mean war. After rumors of the launch of the Dongfeng ballistic missiles emerged, a Taiwanese military commentator analyzed that the launch did not actually happen.
According to the South China Morning Post, this is the first time that China has disclosed the details of the launch. Wang Xiangsui pointed out that of the two kinds of missiles, DF-26B was launched from Qinghai Province in northwestern China, and DF-21D was launched from Zhejiang Province in the east. The missiles hit a ship sailing in the southern waters of the Paracel Islands.
Wang Xiangsui revealed that shortly after the launch, the US military attache in Geneva made representations to the Chinese side, saying that if the missiles hit the US aircraft carrier, it will cause serious consequences. “They regard this as a show of force, but we did it because of their provocation.”
Wang also said that launching missiles into the South China Sea “is a warning to the United States that they should not take any military risks.” “This type of action represents the bottom line of Sino-US confrontation.”
Before China launched these two missiles, the U.S. military frequently actioned in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, including sending a U-2 reconnaissance plane into the restricted area of the Yellow Sea for live-fire exercises announced by China on August 25; In July, the “Nimitz” and “Reagan” aircraft carriers conducted dual-carrier exercises in the South China Sea. And in August, the “Reagan” went to the South China Sea again.
