China Develops Its Drone Industry

March 01, 2013

China US Rivalry Drones

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report in Special English.

China said last week that it had considered launching a drone strike against a major Burmese drug trafficker wanted in the killings of 13 Chinese sailors.

China's top drug official, Liu Yuejin, said the plan was to bomb the drug lord’s hideout in northeastern Burma using unmanned aircraft.

The official said the drone strike idea was eventually passed over in order to capture Naw Kham alive. He was captured last April in a joint operation with Laos.

The comments by the official are a sign of China’s increasing development of unmanned aerial technology. They also suggest that China is seriously considering drone attacks outside its borders.

Peter Dutton is with the United States Naval War College. He says China is moving away from its earlier policy of non-interference in international affairs.

"This is a new change. This is China behaving more actively in the international sphere to protect its interests beyond its borders than it had in the past."

For years, the United States has led the global drone market. It is known to use UAV, or unmanned aerial vehicle, strikes against foreign targets.

In recent years, China has greatly improved its drone technology. It showed off many of its new models at recent air shows in the country. One of the drones reaches distances of over 3,200 kilometers.