Powerful performers

摘要

Accessing the biennial Airshow China gathering in Zhuhai is by no means easy - for aviation journalists, at least. There is considerable bureaucracy involved in securing a visa, and once in the city itself, hotel rates jump by five or six times during show week. It is also challenging to get affordable transport out to the event venue - a 90min drive away - and once there, the entrances change daily. It is as if the organisers are unconsciously channelling the anti-access/area denial (A2/ AD) strategy that is so much a part of Chinese military planning. Airpower elements of A2/ AD, which broadly aims to push enemy forces a good distance from Chinese territory, have been evident at the last few editions of the show.