China deploys Suhoi-27s to deter U.S., S. Korean forces: report SHENYANG, May 12 (Yonhap) -- China has deployed state-of-the-art Suhoi-27 fighters at an air force base near its border with North Korea in an apparent attempt to deter a possible threat from the joint air forces of South Korea and the United States, reports said Monday.
The reports come amid allegations that China is ready to intervene in any contingency in North Korea under an alliance treaty which calls for China's automatic involvement in any military conflicts in the Korean Peninsula.
It also follows a visit to Beijing by Ri Byong-chol, North Korea's air force commander, in April, the first of its kind in more than a decade.
China intervened on behalf of its communist ally North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice. The United States fought on the side of South Korea.
A Chinese blogger put up a story with a photo of several Suhoi-27s near a hangar in an air force base that he described as Dandong air base, saying "It is very natural that the air force base in Dandong deploys the third-generation fighters (like Suhoi-27s) as the air base is aimed at deterring air strikes on North Korea by the United States and South Korea."
Dandong air base is said to maintain only dilapidated Chinese fighters.
The blogger noted the Chinese national broadcaster CCTV's report last week that "An anonymous Chinese air base has become equipped with multi kinds of flights with comprehensive capabilities."
The Russian-made Suhoi is said to be more effective than F-15s and F-16s in that it can make a vertical turn at high speed.
Military sources here said it is highly likely that China has deployed Suhoi-27s in Dandong, noting China has been replacing old fighters with its newest ones at many air bases across China since 2006.
"It is very likely that China deployed Suhoi-27s on frontlines to counter South Korea and the United States which maintain superior air power to North Korea," a source said.
The source also said that China has been conducting a military training on crossing the Aprok and Duman rivers across the Chinese-North Korean border every summer since 2004 in apparent recognition of a contingency in North Korea.
hdh@yna.co.kr
Source
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2008/05/12/91/0301000000AEN20080512000700315F.HTML
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