Despite China's strong displeasure over Lee's United States visit, its military exercises were only intended to be symbolic. To explain this, this chapter examines China's military capability, especially its air force, navy and ground troops, and its overall strategy before finally explaining the rationale behind its actions.

The P.L.A. Capability

In 1995, the P.L.A. had 2.2 million ground troops out of a total of about 3 million military personnel, up to 8,000 main battle tanks, 2,000 light tanks, 4,500 armoured infantry fighting vehicles and personnel carriers, 14,500 towed artillery pieces and 3,800 multiple-rocket launchers. The P.L.A. Navy had 52 submarines, 18 destroyers, 32 frigates and about 870 patrol and coastal vessels. Its naval air force had 855 shore-based combat aircraft and 68 armed helicopters. It also had a marine force of 5,000 and 25,000 coastal defence troops. The Chinese Air Force had about 4,970 combat aircraft. By comparison, in 1995, Taiwan had an army of 240,000 with 570 main battle tanks and 905 light tanks. Its navy consisted of 4 submarines, 22 destroyers, 16 frigates and 98 patrol and coastal vessels. The Taiwanese Air Force had 430 combat aircraft. If the P.L.A. controlled the air and sea, the massive P.L.A. ground forces would overwhelm Taiwan's troops. However, the question is, could the P.L.A. indeed gain such control?

Air Force

In 1995, the P.L.A. air force (P.L.A.A.F.) had the third largest fleet in the world, but most of their equipment was obsolete, largely consisting of outmoded combat aircraft such as the Nanchang J-5, Shenyang J-6, Xian J-7 and Shenyang J-8 fighters.

China made efforts to upgrade its outmoded fighters in the 1980s. However, the so-called “Peace Pearl” project undertaken with the United States in the 1980s for the improvement of the J-8II, which was a development of the J-7 (Mikjoyan MiG-21), proved to be economically costly (30–40 per cent higher than originally estimated) and technologically disappointing. China dropped the project before the Bush Administration's announcement that it would suspend the project following the Tiananmen incident of 1989.