Chinese TV Pumps Up Volume With Footage of Military

In a bristling display of military muscle and nationalistic ardor before Saturday’s presidential election in Taiwan, China’s state television Wednesday aired extensive footage of Beijing’s military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.

Against a background of roaring missiles and soldiers chanting their willingness to die for the motherland, China displayed its latest weaponry in action with a fleet of target ships in international waters west of Taiwan. A squadron of modern SU-27 fighters fired air-to-ground missiles while bombers released their payloads and warships unleashed torpedoes.

“Imagine Mt. Taishan falling on your head,” the China Central Television announcer said as dozens of bombs fell toward their targets in the roiling sea.

The rare public display of military might, broadcast across China on the main evening news program, was the latest element in China’s propaganda campaign to intimidate voters in Taiwan.

Last week, the national television network, which is regularly monitored by stations in Taiwan, showed four medium-range missiles being fired at targets near the Taiwanese coast. If the campaign continues according to script, a final broadcast can be expected later this week, possibly showing an amphibious landing on a chain of islands off China’s eastern coast, where another round of military exercises is underway through Monday.

The latest exercises, around Haitan Island off China’s Fujian province, suffered a setback Wednesday as fog and rain enveloped much of the coast.

How much China’s military posturing will affect the vote in Taiwan’s first presidential election will not be known until Saturday. China, which has vowed to invade Taiwan if the island declares independence from the mainland, is hoping that the expected winner, Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, gets less than 50% of the vote.

Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, Lee said the Chinese military exercises have had the opposite effect of the intended impact on Taiwan’s population.

“Communist China’s military and air and sea exercises not only did not disturb our people’s minds,” Lee said, “it further put together the 21 million people’s feeling of strength and unity.”

The two weeks of military propaganda have already had a significant impact on China itself, producing a resurgent wave of nationalism that could have longer-term consequences than the current flap over Taiwan.

After more than a decade of double-digit economic growth that has changed substantially the living standards of most people, many Chinese feel that their country and its army are worthy of respect equal to China’s new economic clout.

Some of the new nationalism has taken the form of antiforeign and anti-American attitudes, particularly after the Clinton administration ordered two U.S. aircraft carrier groups to the area to keep an eye on China’s exercises and monitor threats against Taiwan.

Western diplomats and business people in Beijing report increasing hostility in their encounters with Chinese officials, particularly military representatives.

“All of a sudden, it has become politically correct for younger officers in the army to describe the United States as China’s enemy,” one visiting U.S. military specialist said.

The emphasis in newspaper articles and the Wednesday newscast was on new high-tech elements of the 3-million-strong People’s Liberation Army. Missile technicians were displayed in their white lab coats, common soldiers peered into sophisticated radar screens.

However, the broadcast concluded with a more traditional appeal to nationalism and the Chinese principle of “people’s war.”

“For the unity of the motherland,” soldiers shouted, “we are not afraid to sacrifice our lives.”

* BUSINESS CROSS-FIRE: U.S. firms in China are fearful of reprisals, trade sanctions. D1