Will wonders never cease?
No, they won’t, not for those publishing news stories about Chinese wonder weapons. Yes, there are real, advanced weapons being stockpiled—a few. But the proposed weapons that are not part of any inventory are many. And increasing.
The magic seems to have started on January 30, 2019 when CNN reported that since the beginning of that month, “the Chinese military has revealed a dizzying array of sophisticated and powerful new weaponry.”
Attention, reporters
CNN’s story discussed ten items, eight of which were real, deployed, or deployable. The other two included a not-ready-yet rail gun and a grab bag of prototypes like “hand-held knives that fire bullets, pistols that shoot around corners and assault rifles that launch grenades.” (Attention, reporters: rifles that launch grenades were used in the Vietnam War, Korea, World War II, World War I.)
Nine months later, the grab-bag part of CNN’s piece was revived for an article in The National Interestunder the headline “China’s Experimental Weapons Are a Game Changer.”
As a rule, you want your game-changing experimental weapons to be a battlefield surprise, not announced to establish bragging rights during the brainstorming phase. For the National Interest story, the sources of information were the South China Morning Post and chinamil.com, a PLA website.
Why does the People’s Liberation Army have an English-language website advertising its wonder weapons? Business Insider may have stumbled onto the answer: “China’s been showing off a lot of new powerful weapons, and experts think they’re sending a message.” Elementary, my dear Watson!
If the goal is to scare the U.S. government into panicked spending to offset nonexistent capabilities, such a trick may occasionally work. It risks frustrating China if the potential of a future weapon is checkmated after China’s been bragging about it. So is the game actually to have the United States spend on nonsense?
“DEATH RAY,” blared The Sun. “China’s secret space weapons could kill 90% of people on US mainland in ‘first strike’ EMP attack, [a Department of Homeland Security] report warns. CHINA has allegedly stolen US technology to develop space-based weapons [EMP nukes] that can neutralize aircraft carrier groups and kill 90 percent of Americans on US soil.”
Secret space weapons! Stolen technology! Killing 90 percent of Americans!
The Department of Homeland Security tried to get the attention of Congress with this. And this oldie-but-goody claim from 2020 was very recently refreshed with a Russian flavor. A durable story; we may see it again in a few years. Meanwhile, Congress seems to have done little to assuage the panic.
Super soldiers
Here is another story originating with the American government: “China has conducted ‘human testing’ on members of the People’s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with ‘biologically enhanced capabilities,’ the top U.S. intelligence official said Friday.”
We could stop these super soldiers with tranquilizer darts, perhaps, but that likely would not boost budgets by as much as this top U.S. intelligence official hopes for.
In fact, though, the U.S. government has been relatively restrained when it comes to trumpeting Chinese advances and publicly responding to them. No, the true fount of superweapons news seems to be the South China Morning Post, a formerly independent Hong Kong newspaper.
And my, the Post can really get the U.S. press excited:
China Built a Hypersonic Generator That Could Power Unimaginable Weapons
As reported by the South China Morning Post, a new peer-reviewed paper in the Chinese Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics explains how the hypersonic generator turns one detonation inside a shock tunnel into enough electrical current to power hypersonic weapons of the future.
The story is about an experiment and the quotes are all from the scientists who worked on it. Perhaps publicity is their route to more funding.
The Post can also stimulate Britain’s reporters. According to a recent Express story, China “creates terrifying new superweapon putting West on the backfoot.” The country “has reportedly developed a so-called ‘dream bullet’ with the ability to change directions mid-flight in pursuit of a target.”
If perfected, this could substantially shorten the shootout scenes in TV and film dramas.
ALL-CAP horrors
Futurism.com has also noticed stories in the Post: “CHINA’S NEW WEAPON: A SONIC GUN THAT VIBRATES YOUR BRAIN.” (In the future will we all use ALL CAPS?)
In this case, we seem to confront a finished product, “a handheld sonic gun designed to help the nation’s military and law enforcement agencies disperse crowds.” If you would like one, Futirism.com kindly provides you with this crucial info: CHENGDU HENGAN POLICE EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING COMPANY. No phone number though.
Lately, the South China Morning Post has had to do its own heavy lifting without much outside help. Example: “China’s top naval scientist proposes a Star Wars-style ‘supership’ to convert nuclear energy to kinetic force weapons.” It’s a proposal and it’s a headline.
Or how about “Chinese scientists build powerful microwave weapon that can fire from a moving truck, using Stirling engine to cool technology”? The scientists built one. Scientists in search of more funding?
And: “Chinese navy says it’s testing the planet’s most powerful coil gun.” At least this one has reached test phase.
Finally, “China is developing an anti-ship missile that turns into a torpedo during its terminal phase, combining flight and underwater capabilities in one weapon to increase the probability of a successful strike.” This one has passed through testing to “development”—it could almost be real. On the other hand, it’s probably just boasting. All boasting, all the time. □
James Roth works for a major defense contractor in Virginia.
