In this special episode, we sat down with Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. He sheds light on China’s recent arms show at Zhuhai and what that means in terms of U.S.-China competition.
Fisher said: “The weapon that has been featured most heavily in Chinese state media is the first formal appearance of the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation J-20 fifth generation fighter. The J-20 first flew famously on Jan. 11, 2011, right about the same time that former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was visiting China. It was viewed as an attempt to embarrass Bob Gates who had thought, who had said two years previous that China would have no stealth fighters by 2020. Well, the fact is that today, in 2022, China has close to 100 or perhaps slightly more than 100 of its J-20 fighters in service.”…