The commander of China's People's Liberation Army Air Force, Lt Gen Liu Shunyao, yesterday foreshadowed a more offensive role for his service. Speaking in Singapore at the Millennium Air Power Conference, held as part of Asian Aerospace 2000, Lt Gen Liu told an extraordinarily high-powered collection of senior officers and industry representatives that realising ancient strategist Sun Tsu's maxim 'achieve victory without fighting' depended on possessing both defensive and offensive capabilities.
China was now moving from a defensive strategy to one which also embodied an offensive ability. He stressed, perhaps significantly, that "...China will never invade or threaten a sovereign state."
That definition excludes Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.
Source: Flight Daily News
