CRISISBOOM

Robert Gates, the US defense secretary, recently said China would be able to produce a combat jet by 2020, but if the video is genuine, it would suggest that it may be able to do so a decade or more sooner.

The photographs come amid growing fears over China’s rapidly-expanding military capabilities. Naval experts have expressed concern over the Dong Feng-21D ballistic missile, which is designed to target aircraft carriers in mid-sea – thus denying the United States its traditional military dominance of the Pacific.