WASHINGTON – According to US media reports, China has recently tested a newnuclear missile capable of reaching North America. The Chinese pointed outthat the report could not even get the missile’s name right.
China refuted a recent report by the Washington Free Beacon saying that theMiddle Kingdom has recently tested a new nuclear missile capableof delivering a nuclear payload to the entirety of the US.
According to the report, the allegedly tested new missile is called theJL-3, or “Julong-3,” which the news website claims translates as “giantwave.” The missile, which allegedly has a range of up to 8,700 miles, issupposedly launched from a Type 096 nuclear sub, which can carry up to 24missiles.
The alleged test took place on November 22, the newspaper says.
This report was somewhat in line with another by The Diplomat, whichreported that the test took place on November 24 instead, and that themissile has an operational range of more than 9,000 kilometers. This reportsaid that the test took place in the Bohai Sea.
However, these not entirely consistent reports have been debunkedby Chinese edition Shanghai Observer, which is affiliated with state-runJiefang Daily.
For starters, the US reports failed to even get the translation right, theObserver writes. “Julong” translates as “great dragon.” “Giant wave” wouldbe “Julang” in Chinese. This alone gave the Observer enough reason to doubtthe plausibility of the US reports.
The Observer also points out that the Washington Free Beacon reported thatChinese President Xi Jinping visited a submarine base in June and quotedhim as saying: “As a nation’s ultimate instrument, submarines shall seegreat developments.”
“Our seaborne nuclear forces need to advance by leaps and bounds. We pinour hopes of development and advancement on your era, so that our navy andour submarine forces shall have a rapid rise,” the Beacon’s articlereported Xi as saying.
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However, the Observer performed a check via Xinhua, the Chinese state newsagency, and could not find a record of those comments by the Chineseleader.
Xi’s visit did take place in June, and Xi was reported as boarding asubmarine at the time, but no such comments were reported during his visit.
What’s worse, both the Beacon and Diplomat reports contradict an earlier USDepartment of Defense reporton China, which reads the following:
“China’s next-generation Type 096 SSBN (ballistic missile submarines),reportedly to be armed with the follow-on JL-3 SLBM (submarine-launchedballistic missile), will likely begin construction in the early-2020s.”
Both US media reports said the Type 096 submarine is being constructedalready.
Despite the Pentagon’s estimates, Chinese news website Sina Militaryreported in July that the submarine in question will only begin production”in a few years.”
