Li Shangfu, who was named to his position in March, was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue here. The event, organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies – Asia, takes place annually on the first weekend of June.

During the question-and-answer session after his speech, Li was asked about the new report and video of a People’s Liberation Army Navy warship cutting across the bow of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Chung-hoon.

The footage was shot by a Canadian news crew who witnessed the event from a Canadian frigate accompanying the American destroyer as they transited through international waters along the Taiwan Strait on June 3

The maneuver was described at the dialogue by Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund, as “in contravention of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.”

However, Li said that the Canadian-U.S. voyage cannot be considered “innocent passage,” but was instead provocation. He questioned why foreign jets and naval vessels were operating so close to China and said foreign militaries should “mind your own business” closer to home.

The encounter at sea came eight days after the U.S. Department of Defense released video of a Chinese J-16 multirole fighter conducting what DoD called an “unprofessional” intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea by cutting across the latter’s flightpath.

The maneuver is known as “thumping,” in reference to the interceptor using its jetwash to temporarily disrupt the flight of the aircraft being intercepted with its wake turbulence.

Li declined to directly answer questions from delegates about the performance of the Russian military and equipment during the invasion of Ukraine, saying his recent focus has been on military diplomacy and that he has not been following the conflict from a combat standpoint.

Li used his speech to highlight China’s contributions to global security, such as its sending of peacekeepers to seven different conflict zones under the auspices of the United Nations and 139 naval vessels in 44 separate deployments for anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden.

He also commented on Taiwan issue, reiterating that the matter is an internal Chinese affair and accusing Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party of undermining regional stability by pushing for “incremental independence.”

Li criticized “some big power,” a reference to the United States, for repeatedly selling arms and providing military training assistance to the self-ruling island. He said China will not rule out using force to reunify Taiwan with the mainland.

Lloyd Austin was speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit here. The event convenes defense ministers from the Indo-Pacific and around the world to discuss and enhance security in the region and is organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies – Asia or IISS-Asia.

“The United States believes that open lines of communication with the People’s Republic of China are essential, especially between our defense and military leaders,” Austin said.

He added that dialogue between both nations is an important guardrail to preserve regional peace and stability, particularly in the Taiwan Strait, and will help to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that may lead to crisis or conflict.

“The right time to talk is now,” Austin added.

Chinese defense and military officials have stopped contacts and engagements with their American counterparts, culminating in a refusal by Chinese defense minister Li Shengfu to meet with Austin while they are both in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue.

“A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for substantive engagement,” Austin said, referring to the lack of a formal bilateral dinner despite him shaking hands with Li prior to the dialogue’s opening dinner and keynote speech on Friday.

Asked about accusations that the U.S. is trying to provoke China into invading Taiwan, Austin denied the charge.

He had said earlier in his speech “the United States remain deeply committed to preserving the status quo in the [Taiwan] strait, consistent with our one-China policy and fulfilling our well-established obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act.”

“We do not seek conflict or confrontation, but we will not flinch in the face of bullying and coercion,” Austin added.

U.S. engagement with regional allies and partners was also a key focus for Austin, as he highlighted recent DoD efforts to expand its interactions with militaries in the Indo-Pacific.

This included the April announcement that the U.S. military will expand its footprint in the Philippines under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Arrangement, which will see four of the US ally’s facilities upgraded and made available to US forces.

Austin also touched on the upcoming Talisman Sabre exercise in Australia, which will take place this summer. This year’s iteration will involve 14 countries and approximately 30,000 personnel, including a “significant contingent” from Japan.

The exercise has scaled up significantly in recent years; it was until recently primarily a bilateral event involving Australia and the U.S.

Austin praised recent moves by Japan and South Korea to improve ties. The U.S. allies have recently taken steps to thaw frosty relations dating back to Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula that only ended with its surrender following World War II.

The Northrop Grumman-made high-altitude, long-endurance UAV was sighted at Changi Air Base (East) on multiple occasions from January onward, and Defense News has obtained a photograph of it being towed at the base.

The image was taken from a commercial airliner during takeoff in late February from Singapore’s Changi International Airport, which shares a runway with the base.

This is the first known operational deployment of the Global Hawk to Singapore, although it has previously visited the island nation for air shows in 2018 and 2022.

Singapore’s Defence Ministry confirmed in a statement to Defense News that the country “facilitated the short-term deployment of an RQ-4 Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, as part of the 1990 Memorandum of Understanding Regarding United States Use of Facilities in Singapore.”

The ministry provided no further details of the deployment, and the U.S. Air Force referred questions about the deployment to Pacific Air Forces, an American command in the region. Neither Pacific Air Forces nor the U.S. Embassy in Singapore has responded to questions about the deployment.

However, sources in Singapore have told Defense News the unmanned aircraft arrived in January and was still operating from the island in early March, and that it has flown missions almost exclusively at night during the deployment.

The Global Hawk’s long endurance, which the U.S. Air Force says is in excess of 34 hours, means it can take off at night and stay in the air during daylight hours before landing again the next evening.

The deployment also coincided with the presence of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Nimitz and the amphibious assault ship Makin Island — as well as and their respective strike groups — in the South China Sea. Both of those ships and several of their escorting vessels visited Singapore’s Changi Naval Base during this period.

In addition to hosting a U.S. Navy logistics facility, Singapore is a security partner of the United States. A 1990 memorandum signed by both countries — and renewed in 2019 — allows American forces to access Singapore’s air and naval bases on a rotational basis. This has seen the southeast Asian nation host rotational deployments of U.S. Navy littoral combat ships and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

Singapore has separate agreements for its Air Force jet and helicopter detachments to train in the continental United States and conduct rotational air combat training in Guam.

Stephen Losey in Washington contributed to this report.

Speaking to media during a visit to RAAF Base Tindal near Katherine, detachment commander Squadron Leader Adam Paull of 2 Squadron, which operates the Australian E-7As, said that the aircraft flew alternately in support of both blue and red air missions at the exercise, as well as performing overall airspace control and management at Exercise Pitch Black. The blue and red color designations are military jargon for simulated friendly and adversary factions, respectively.

Also attending the media session was Air Battle Manager Maj. Christopher Dunn of the United States Air Force and Flight Lieutenant Sophie Gale of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force.

Both the U.S. and British air forces have ongoing acquisition programs to buy the E-7A, which is based on a commercial Boeing 737 airliner and is fitted with a Northrop Grumman multi-role electronically scanned array radar on a fairing on top of its fuselage.

Dunn said his transition to the E-7A from the current Boeing E-3 Sentrys was relatively seamless due to the relatively similarity in user interfaces on both platforms, with the key difference being the smaller number of operator consoles on the E-7A.

The the main benefits of the new plane type were the modern, electronically scanned array radar and communications suite and the improved reliability of the newer airframe, he explained.

Dunn is on a three-year tour with the Australian air service, which is expected to end in 2024 or 2025, an experience he expects to apply to the envisioned U.S. Air Force E-7A fleet. He told Defense News that there are currently three U.S. personnel embedded with 2 Sqn, including a U.S. Navy operator trained on E-2D Hawkeye carrier-borne aircraft.

He also expects the embedding of U.S. military personnel to 2 Sqn to ramp up in the coming months, as the U.S. Air Force seeks to build up a cadre of operators in the lead up to the service receiving its first aircraft in 2027.

The Royal Air Force’s Gale, who is an asset manager for the mission computing system and an engineer officer trained on helicopters, said that her service’s embedding of personnel here was not just to train operationally but also to help the UK’s E-7A project office make informed decisions about acquisition and sustainment contracts.

The RAF has around 40 maintainers, technicians, and aircrew embedded with 2 Sqn, which is normally based at Williamtown, north of Australia’s largest city Sydney on the country’s southeast coast.

Paull said the advantage of bringing over personnel from different backgrounds and trained on vastly different platforms into their own program enabled the sharing of fresh perspectives and ideas into their own systems.

During the Pitch Black exercise, which runs from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8 and involves aircraft from 10 countries, the Australian E-7A took turns flying missions alongside a Gulfstream G550 aircraft of the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

Paull told reporters that the aircraft also flew missions in support of a separate training exercise in northern Australia involving U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor and Australian F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters.

The American Raptors, which are assigned to 15th Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in Hawaii, are in Australia as part of the Enhanced Air Cooperation (EAC) program between Australia and the United States.

Speaking during an unprecedented address delivered via video link at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Zelenskyy said the world must push for diplomatic solutions to support countries that are in need of help.

“We must not leave them behind at the mercy of another country which is more powerful in financial terms, in territorial terms and in terms of equipment,” he said in response to a question about what Taiwan can do in the face of military and political pressure from China. “No one benefits from [open conflict}, apart from certain political leaders, who are not content with the present level of their ambitions. Therefore, they keep growing their appetites and their ambitions.”

Zelenskyy also spoke of the importance of international law for smaller states, quoting the words of Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew: “If there had been no international law, and the big fish ate the small fish and the small fish ate shrimps, we would not have existed.”

Zelenskyy cited the late leader while accusing the Russian leadership under President Vladimir Putin of striving to dismantle international law by invading Ukraine. The Kremlin seeks to make it “impossible for a neighboring country, which it regards solely as its colony, to be able to exist freely and independently,” he said.

He charged Russians with systematically looting the resources of occupied Ukrainian territory by stripping it of everything from industrial machinery to crops and cars, and he blamed global food insecurity on Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.

The blockade has left Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest, and Zelenskyy warned the world will potentially face an acute food crisis and famine in many Asian and African countries, possibly leading to political chaos.

A pair of U.S. Air Force F-35As and a single KC-46A are on static display at the biennial airshow, which runs Feb. 15-18 at Singapore’s Changi Exhibition Centre.

The F-35As are from the 355th Fighter Squadron out of Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, which started receiving the Lockheed Martin-made fifth-generation fighter jet in April 2020. This is the first time the conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant has appeared at the Singapore Airshow.

According to 1st Lt. Rachel Self, the F-35As flew into the show with the KC-46A from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where the fighter jets were taking part in Exercise Cope North with aircraft and personnel from Japan and Australia.

Self, whose call sign is “Savior”, told Defense News that the jets refueled four times from the KC-46A during the seven-hour trip from Guam to Singapore.

The KC-46A was from the 916th Air Refueling Wing out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. Flight tracking websites showed the tanker arrived in Singapore via Guam and Hawaii.

Col. Brian McClanahan, the air boss of the Defense Department’s contingent at the air show, said the presence of U.S. military aircraft and the contingent at the show are meant to serve as an opportunity to meet with Indo-Pacific partners and interact with the industry members.

Major events such as air and trade shows ground to a halt in the region since the last Singapore Airshow in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The KC-46A and F-35As join several other U.S. military aircraft at the show, including a U.S. Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon multimission aircraft on static display. Meanwhile, a Japan-based U.S. Marine Corps F-35B was put through its paces in a flying display.

This is the second time the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter has appeared at the Singapore Airshow, having made its debut at the 2020 iteration. The Republic of Singapore Air Force has the type on order.

A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress, made by Boeing, also flew in an aerial display, having made the journey from Guam where it’s on a rotational deployment. Four bombers from the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, had arrived on the U.S. territory between Feb. 8 and 10.

Wednesday’s launch, the North’s first known weapons test in about two months, indicates that the country will press ahead with plans to build powerful, sophisticated missiles rather than returning to disarmament talks anytime soon.

The missile test was picked up by South Korea, Japan and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The Japanese Defense Ministry’s initial assessment suggested the missile flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) into the Sea of Japan, which is known to both Koreas as the East Sea.

Photos of the missile launch confirmed North Korea fired a conical-shaped maneuvering reentry vehicle propelled by a liquid-fuel booster. The missile was mounted and fired from a wheeled launcher modified from a Russian MAZ-543 truck.

The booster section appears to be similar to that shown by North Korea at last October’s arms expo that was attended by its supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.

This appears to be a shortened version of the booster for the Hwasong-12 ballistic missile, with North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reporting that the weapon flew 700 kilometers after performing evasive maneuvers.

This would likely account for the discrepancy in assessed range if the hypersonic glider’s separation happened at low altitude and was not picked up by Japanese sensors.

North Korea’s National Defense Science Academy also released a statement on the missile test, saying the hypersonic glide vehicle performed lateral maneuvers over 120 kilometers.

It also said the test verifies the performance of the engine ampulization under wintery conditions, continuing a previous test of rocket engine ampulization carried out by North Korea in September 2021. (It wasn’t immediately known if the weapon tested in September was the exact same type of hypersonic missile tested this month.)

“The successive successes in the test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have strategic significance in that they hasten a task for modernizing strategic armed force of the state,” a KCNA dispatch said. The word “strategic” implies the missile is being developed to deliver nuclear weapons.

If successful, it would mean North Korea is able to fuel the missiles in a factory, seal them hermetically in canisters, and store them so that they can be quickly moved and launched, negating the need to fuel missiles in the open, which would leave them vulnerable to detection and attack.

Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability. It’s unclear whether and how soon North Korea could manufacture such a high-tech missile, but it was among a wish list of sophisticated military assets that Kim disclosed early last year, along with a multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fueled long-range missiles and underwater-launched nuclear missiles.

U.S.-led diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program remains stalled since 2019 due to disputes over international sanctions on the North. The Biden administration has repeatedly called for resuming the nuclear diplomacy “anywhere and at any time” without preconditions, but North Korea has argued the U.S. must first withdraw its hostility against it before any talks can restart.

During last week’s plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim repeated his vow to expand his country’s military capabilities without publicly presenting any new positions on Washington and Seoul.

Hyung-Jin Kim with The Associated Press contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.

MELBOURNE, Australia, and WASHINGTON — China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than U.S. officials predicted a year ago, highlighting a broad and accelerating buildup of military muscle designed to enable Beijing to match or surpass U.S. global power by midcentury, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday.

The Defense Department’s 2021 report, commonly referred to as the “China Military Power Report,” said that “the accelerating pace” of China’s nuclear expansion “may enable” it to have “up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027,″ and that China “likely intends to have at least 1,000 warheads by 2030″.

The United States, by comparison, has 3,750 nuclear weapons and has no plans to increase that number. As recently as 2003, the U.S. total was about 10,000. The Biden administration is undertaking a comprehensive review of its nuclear policy and has not said how that might be influenced by its China concerns.

The report does not suggest open conflict with China but it fits an emerging U.S. narrative of a People’s Liberation Army intent on challenging the United States in all domains of warfare — air, land, sea, space and cyberspace. Against that backdrop, U.S. defense officials have said they are increasingly wary of China’s intentions with regard to the status of Taiwan.

“The PLA’s evolving capabilities and concepts continue to strengthen [China’s] ability to ‘fight and win wars’ against a ‘strong enemy’ — a likely euphemism for the United States,” the report said, adding that it makes China more capable of coercing Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its territory.

Wednesday’s report is the latest reminder to Congress, already leery of Beijing’s military ambitions, that the Pentagon’s frequent promises to focus more intently on countering China have moved only incrementally beyond the talking stage. The Biden administration is expected to take a new step by following through on its announcement in September of plans to increase the U.S. military presence in Australia, in addition to a controversial decision to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Nuclear triad

The report also flagged the possibility of China having already established a nascent “nuclear triad” with the development of a nuclear capable air-launched ballistic missile and improvements to its land- and sea-based nuclear capabilities.

The Pentagon report was based on information collected through December 2020 and so does not reflect or mention Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s expression of concern last month about Chinese hypersonic weapon tests over the summer that he said came as a troublesome surprise. Wednesday’s report only referred to the widely known fact that China had fielded the DF-17 medium-range ballistic missile, equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to evade American missile defenses.

In remarks shortly before the report’s release Wednesday, Milley told the Aspen Security Forum that the hypersonic missile test and other Chinese advances are evidence of what is at stake for the world. “We are witnessing one of the largest shifts in global and geostrategic power that the world has witnessed,” he said.

The airborne launch platform of this Chinese triad is the Xi’an H-6N bomber, a derivative of the H-6K that is optimized for long-range strikes and features a modified fuselage that allows it to externally carry an air-launched ballistic missile that maybe nuclear-capable.

The H-6N also possesses air-to-air refueling capability, the first variant of the type able to do so and thereby providing it greater range compared to other Chinese bombers. The report assesses that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force has operationally fielded the H-6N bomber as of 2020 and is “very likely” to be “developing tactics and procedures to conduct the PLAAF nuclear mission.”

China’s main nuclear delivery system is still the growing force of ballistic missiles in its arsenal that are capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads. The Pentagon report said China has “commenced building at least three solid-fueled [intercontinental ballistic missiles] silo fields, which will cumulatively contain hundreds of new ICBM silos” — echoing earlier news reports based on open-source satellite imagery

The Pentagon report also said sources indicate a new long-range DF-27 ballistic missile with an officially stated range of 5,000-8,000 kilometers (3,100-5,000 miles) is under development. However, it is unclear if this is referring to the Chinese “intercontinental” glider system that was previously reported.

The naval leg of China’s triad is also advancing, with the report noting that development of the Type 096-class ballistic missile submarine is continuing, and that when it is commissioned, the class is expected to serve alongside six older Type 094s.

The ballistic missile submarine fleet is expected to reach eight boats by 2030 with the Type 096 in service. The submarine will be equipped with JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which would enable China to target the U.S. mainland with nuclear strikes from within China’s littoral waters.

These ballistic missiles will receive up-to-date targeting information from China’s growing fleet of reconnaissance and remote sensing satellites, that is estimated to number around 200, up from “more than 80″ in last year’s report.

However, anti-submarine warfare in open waters remains an Achilles’ heel for the Chinese military. The report acknowledged that China is aware of this shortfall and is improving its anti-sub warfare capabilities and training to better protect its aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines even as its naval force is projected to reach 460 ships by 2030.

The basis of the Pentagon’s prediction that China will vastly increase its nuclear arsenal is not spelled out in Wednesday’s report. A senior defense official who briefed reporters in advance of the report’s public release, and thus spoke on condition of anonymity, said the forecast reflects several known developments, such as China’s addition of a nuclear bomber capability, as well as public statements in Chinese official media that have made reference to China needing 1,000 nuclear weapons.

The aircraft, carrying the serial number 14-3611 and using the callsign REACH 46, made the trans-Pacific flight after departing Boeing’s facilities in Seattle, Washington, on Thursday afternoon local time, arriving at Miho Air Base in Japan on Friday morning local time, according to data from flight-tracking website ADS-B Exchange.

“Japan’s acquisition of KC-46A tankers marks a significant milestone for both the program and U.S.-Japan cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and plays a critical role in the security alliance between both countries,” said Will Shaffer, president of Boeing Japan.

Shaffer added that the KC-46 will also be able to support Japan’s humanitarian and disaster relief efforts due to its ability to carry cargo and passengers.

Japan received the U.S. State Department’s approval to acquire four KC-46s in September 2016. The U.S. Air Force and the JASDF awarded Boeing a Foreign Military Sale contract for this first tanker in December 2017, and exercised an option for a second in December 2018.

The options for the third and fourth JASDF KC-46As were exercised in October 2020 under a $342 million contract.

Japan will form a new squadron for its KC-46As at Miho Air Base to operate alongside its existing tanker fleet comprised of four KC-767 and two KC-130H tankers that are assigned to 404 Hikotai at Komaki. The new tankers will help refuel the JASDF’s fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35A and F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, Mitsubishi F-15 and F-2 fighters, and Bell-Boeing MV-22 Osprey tilt rotors.

Photos and videos taken outside the Chengdu Aircraft factory in its namesake city on Tuesday showed a two-seat J-20 stealth fighter in overall primer, confirming persistent rumors such a variant was being developed by the company.

The photos and video, posted on Weibo and other social media portals, distinctly showed the aircraft’s tandem cockpit as it taxied toward the runway for take-off.

It’s not clear what role the back-seater would play, although a logical explanation would be that the rear seat would be occupied by a weapons system officer, or WSO, responsible for operating the J-20′s radar and weapons.

It has also been suggested the two-seat J-20, whose exact designation is as yet unknown, would be a manned-unmanned teaming mothership, controlling China’s version of a loyal wingman or other unmanned combat aerial vehicle or UCAV.

Another possible use for a J-20 WSO is the primary sensor operator coordinating other networked, manned assets. Chinese aviation industry officials have said in the past they saw a potential use of the J-20 as a stealth airborne early warning aircraft, using multiple J-20s as a sensor net.

New carrier-borne fighter

In addition, photos surfaced earlier today of what appears to be China’s stealthy carrier-borne fighter taking to the air for the first time. As previously reported, industry officials said during the recent Zhuhai air show the new carrier-borne stealth fighter would make its first flight in 2021.

The photos also confirm the aircraft, whose exact designation is also unknown and is also left in primer, is a development of the redesigned Shenyang FC-31 stealth fighter that has also been called the J-31 in some quarters and was previously suggested as an export design.

The photos, taken while the aircraft was in flight, show the catapult launch bar on the nose landing gear and what appears to be hinges on the wings that allow them to be folded, a typical feature of carrier-based aircraft to allow the limited space on the flight deck and hangars to be maximized.

The new type will likely equip the Type 003 carrier being built at a shipyard in the coastal megacity of Shanghai, which, unlike China’s two existing carriers, will be fitted with catapults that will allow it to shorten the aircraft launch cycle, as well as enable it to operate larger and heavier aircraft such as the Xi’an KJ-600 turboprop carrier-borne airborne early warning aircraft.

Two KJ-600s have been seen on Google Earth satellite imagery, taken Oct. 2, of the airfield at Xi’an-Yanliang, where manufacturer Xi’an Aircraft Corp. has its production facilities. The aircraft measures about 17.5 meters (58 feet) in length and has a wingspan of about 25 meters (82 feet), with one painted in light grey while the other retains a green primer finish.

The two-tone gray finish on the dorsal dish-shaped radomes atop the KJ-600s suggests that their radar, which is mounted on a dorsal dish-shaped radome, has a single antenna array that will be able to rotate, giving it all-round coverage. The type was understood to have made its first flight in late August 2020.

Satellite photos of the Jiangnan-Changxing shipyard where the Type 003 carrier is being built suggest the Type 003 will be equipped with three catapults and will be roughly the same size as the U.S. Navy’s Gerald R. Ford-class carriers.