China's military buildup, along with an aggressive foreign policy, has inspired a fair amount of alarm in the West. Some American policymakers consider Beijing to be Washington's only "near-peer competitor" — in other words, the only country with the military might to actually beat the U.S. military in certain circumstances.
But they're wrong.
Even after decades of expensive rearmament, China is a paper dragon — a version of what Mao Zedong wrongly claimed the United States was … in 1956.
Despite a growing defense budget,
China's arsenals still overflow with outdated equipment. The PLA possesses 7,580 main battle tanks, but only 450 of those tanks — the Type 98As and Type 99s — are anywhere near modern, with 125-millimeter guns, composite armor, modern suspension, and advanced fire control systems.
The other 7,130 Chinese tanks — some of which are pictured here — are the same descendants of Soviet
T-55s that comprised Beijing's armored force in the late 1980s … and were obsolete even then.
China also has a lot of fighter planes. Between the People's Liberation Army Air Force and the air arm of the People's Liberation Army Navy, China boasts no fewer than 1,321 fighter aircraft, an aerial armada only slightly smaller than America's.
But China's air forces likewise maintain mostly obsolete jets. Of 1,321 fighters, only 502 are modern — 296 variants of the Russian Su-27 and 206 J-10s of an indigenous design. The remaining 819 fighters — mostly J-7s, J-8s and Q-5s — are 1960s designs built in the 1970s. They wouldn't last long in a shooting war.
The navy is in the best shape, but that's not saying much. The PLAN's destroyers and frigates are fairly new, but its first aircraft carrier
Liaoning is a rebuilt Soviet ship from the 1980s. After a nine-year refit, Liaoning started sea trials in 2011.
Liaoning is half the size of an American
Nimitz-class supercarrier and carries half as many planes. As
Liaoning lacks a catapult, China's J-15 naval fighters must use a ski ramp to take off — and that limits their payload and range.
Liaoning lacks the radar and refueling planes that give American flattops their long-range striking power.
Submarines are another problem area for the PLAN.
Just over half of China's 54 submarines are modern — that is, built within the last 20 years. Beijing's modern undersea fleet includes the
Shang,
Han,
Yuan, and
Song classes. All four classes are Chinese-built.
All are markedly inferior to Western designs.
The rest of China's submarines, especially its 1980s-vintage Mings, are totally obsolete.
The PLAN halted production of the nuclear-powered
Shang class after only building just three boats — an ominous sign. Moreover, Beijing has placed an order with Russia for up to four
Kalina-class subs,
signalling a lack of faith in local designs.
One of the most visible signs of China's military rise is all the 'new', locally-designed and -produced hardware. Beijing is building new ships, aircraft, drones and tanks most of it reversed engineered from Russian technology, that, on the outside, appear to be matches for Western weapons. But we know very little about China's homemade weaponry.
Specifically, we don't know if any of it really works. 
Many of China's "new" weapons are actually foreign designs that Beijing's state companies have licensed, stolen, or painstakingly reverse-engineered. The Changhe Z-8 helicopter was originally the French Super Frelon. The Harbin Z-9 scout helicopter started life as the Eurocopter Dauphin. The Type 99 tank is an updated Soviet T-72.
The
J-20 stealth fighter prototype, for example, has flown scores of test flights since first appearing in late 2010. The large, angular plane appears to boast long range and a large payload, but its stealthiness is hard to gauge. Its avionics, aerodynamic controls, weapons, and sensors — and especially its engines — are equally questionable.
The J-20's designers appear to be waiting on new, Chinese-developed engines to replace the prototype's Russian-made AL-31Ns. China has been working on those engines, without visible success, since the early 1990s.
It's important to remember that America's latest F-35 Joint Strike Fighter first flew in 2006 and won't be ready for combat until 2016.
The United States has experience developing stealth fighters; China does not. If we allow China 10 years from first flight to combat readiness, the J-20 won't be a front-line fighter until 2021. At the earliest.
Why the Chinese military is only a paper dragon - The Week
So, all this talk of a 'super military' capability of the Chinese is just so much hogwash. It's nothing but a paper tiger....errr...paper dragon at present. It would take decades to catch up with the West. In fact it can never hope to do so.
If our Chinese friends and their allies on this forum intend to troll, they need to come out with concrete facts and figures, not spew rubbish for the heck of it.
Thank you!
