Another example of how serious China is about creating world class armed forces, is their establishing a "Top Gun" school. That means some of their Su-27 aircraft would have their pilots trained to use fly and fight like F-16's (in particular, Taiwanese F-16s). The 28 ton Su-27 is actually a larger aircraft than the 17 ton F-16. But the only F-16 class aircraft China has is the new JF17. There are not enough JF17s available to serve in an "aggressor squadron", and the JF17 is actually only equal in performance to older model F-16s. The Su-27 can do the job, even if it's more similar in size to the F-15. The Chinese were encouraged to go this way when, during realistic training exercises, their Su-27 pilots were easily defeated when up against aircraft fighting like Taiwanese pilots in F-16s.
The Chinese are getting awfully serious about learning how to fight well. And given the expense of maintaining high quality pilots and soldiers, a significant decision.
If they can pull it off, course. We shall see.
UPDATE: As I hinted at above, I don't assume China can create well-trained forces. Strategypage gives the reason for some doubt that China can pull it off:
Mostly it's corruption and incompetence in the officer corps. An old Chinese tradition, that we can only hope will persist. This is no minor problem, as the Chinese are well aware. For decades, the Chinese have been trying to modernize the weapons, equipment, training and leadership of their military. They have not got a lot to show for it. The problems are always the same, corruption and incompetence. The Chinese themselves know where this is coming from. It's an ancient Chinese problem, trying to get the generals motivated in peacetime.
Still, it is significant that they are trying and were I living on Taiwan, I'd worry that China will succeed. Or even think they've succeeded.
