People in many provinces saw
flying projectiles that could be ICBMs fired from PLA submarines
By ASIA TIMES STAFF
Projectiles were seen in many provinces on Saturday and Sunday morning. Photos: WeChat, Weibo
Glowing projectiles were
spotted lighting up the night sky on the first two nights of June in multiple
provinces in eastern and central China. These comet-like objects flew in curved
trajectories on the horizon and left residents wondering what they were.
Numerous photos posted online
suggest the unidentified flying objects were first seen in the wee hours
of Saturday in provinces such as Shandong, Liaoning and Hebei, at a time when
large portions of the Bohai Sea, plus the Bohai Strait between Shandong and Liaoning,
were cordoned off by the People’s Liberation Army for a massive naval
drill.
Netizens soon suggested
the UFOs streaking across the sky were missiles and projectiles fired by
the PLA in the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea.
Chinese papers reported that
the PLA conducted two military exercises in the Bohai Sea on Saturday and
Sunday, in waters between Shandong and Liaoning.
More sightings of similar UFOs
were reported on Sunday morning, from stargazers living further inland in the
central, landlocked provinces of Shanxi and Henan. This could be an indication
that missiles launched by the PLA traversed no less than 1,000 kilometers,
likely powerful ballistic missiles fired from a submarine.
A photo taken by a resident in
Shandong Province shows a projectile flying past clouds. Photo: Weibo
Some analysts suspect that the
missiles concerned could be the JL-3, a third-generation intercontinental
ballistic missile powered by solid fuel and launched from a submarine in its
final stage of development. It would likely be deployed on a modern Chinese
submarine known as the Type 096.
The JL-3 is rumored to have a range
of up to 12,000 kilometers, meaning that cities on the west coast of the
US like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle were well within its range if
fired from China’s littoral waters in the East China Sea. The JL-3 is a
variant of the land-based DF-41 missile, the buttress of the PLA’s nuclear
deterrence, and can carry multiple warheads.
The drill was held when
China’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe was in Singapore for this year’s Shangri-La
Dialogue, along with his US counterpart, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick
Shanahan. Wei reportedly warned that the PLA would go to any lengths to defend
China’s sovereignty and territory.
In a combative address, Wei
reasserted Beijing’s position in the South China Sea and vowed a “fight at all
costs” to recapture Taiwan should peaceful attempts to reunify the self-ruled
island fail.
The PLA is also expected to marshal
subs and warships south into the South China Sea for another exercise scheduled
this week.
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