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Insight: How China’s military machine still runs on Soviet technology

5th February 2019 - 03:22 GMT | by Reuben F. Johnson in Kiev

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Ever since it first flew in January 2011, the J-20 fighter has been the poster child for China’s massive military build-up. The aircraft’s first flight, purposely timed to coincide with a Beijing visit by then US defence secretary Robert Gates, telegraphed a message that Beijing continues to articulate today: that China intends to challenge the US military with every kind of weapon system its industry can produce.

Almost eight years later, the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) issued its first public and unsurprising assessment of the increasing threat presented by Beijing’s military.

The J-20 is a step above the previous

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