Chinese missile strikes could cripple US military bases in Asia, and the PLA Air Force has a growing ability to wage war outside China's borders, a US Congressional advisory panel warns.
The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission raises fears in a report that China could - if it so wished - do serious damage to US military strongholds in Asia.
'Currently, China's conventional missile capabilities alone may be sufficient to temporarily knock out five of the six US air bases in East Asia,' Carolyn Bartholomew, the panel's vice-chairwoman, told reporters in Washington. Missile strikes 'could destroy US air defences, runways, parked aircraft and fuel and maintenance facilities'.
US bases in Okinawa, Tokyo and Misawa, Japan, are within range, the report says. So are air bases in South Korea. Only Guam is safe from a Chinese missile strike. But that could change, it says, once China's latest bombers, equipped with long-range missiles, come online.
China already has between 85 and 95 medium-range ballistic missiles - and almost as many launchers - capable of hitting Japan, most of Southeast Asia and India, and parts of Central Asia and eastern Russia, it says.
And should a conflict in Taiwan or the South China Sea call for a US aircraft carrier, China's answer is almost set. The People's Liberation Army is testing an anti-ship missile with the ability to strike slow-moving ships like aircraft carriers and may be preparing to deploy it in Guangdong, the commission was told.
