CHINA-INTERNAL: PLA PREPARATIONS FOR POSSIBLE CONFLICT IN SOUTH CHINA SEA
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The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on May 28, 2015, that the People's Liberation Army has decided to demonstrate several of its most advanced weapon systems to the people living on Hainan island. The weapons demonstrated at Haikou's Xiuying port included the J-10 fighter, WZ-10 gunship, Type 63A amphibious light tank, anti-tank missile vehicle and armoured command vehicle. Xinhua said because Hainan is very likely to become the primary PLA base for operations if China enters a conflict in the South China Sea, Beijing wants to prepare the civilians of the island for military conflict by exhibiting those weapon systems. The Global Times said that China is ready for a war if the United States or other nations claiming the Spratly islands continue to demand the nation to give up its land reclamation activities. Separately, theTokyo-based Nihon Keizai Shimbun said that China has begun to send maritime surveillance vessels to the waters off the coast of Hawaii as a countermeasure against the US activities in the South China Sea. Senior Colonel Wang Jin from the PLA's Department of Strategic Planning, also announced that the strategy of coastal defense can no longer serve China's national interests as more advanced weapon systems with a longer range have been developed.
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