China’s path to military supremacy runs through an industrial powerhouse

China is on a mission to turn its military into a modern fighting force. In the second of this four-part series, we look at how its massive defence industry can support China’s military goals, and during wartime could be further bolstered by the civilian manufacturing sector.

In the northeastern city of Shenyang, the future of China’s defence manufacturing capacity is rapidly taking shape – an enormous new aviation industrial complex that will eventually occupy an area about the size of 600 football fields.

Video of the site was aired on a provincial television news programme in early July, part of a feature about the provincial governor’s visit to the headquarters of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. The firm, which owns the collection of new complexes, makes China’s main carrier-based fighter, the J-15, as well as the country’s most advanced J-35 stealth fighter and prototypes for a sixth-generation jet.

In the report, Wang Xinwei, governor of Liaoning province, pledged to build a “world-class aerospace city”.

Details of what the production lines would eventually look like were not revealed, and Beijing has been tight-lipped on such military facilities. However, the scope of the complex has raised eyebrows.

While the development of the military weapons used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has seen rapid progress, the country’s industrial capacity to mass produce such weapons in the event of possible protracted warfare has also gained attention amid the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Beijing has maintained a massive defence industry to support its military goals, which during wartime could be further bolstered by the civilian manufacturing sector, experts have said.

South China Morning Post