An article in the January 2014 edition of the Canada-based Kanwa Defense Review queries if the PLA Air Force along with the Second Artillery Corps could completely paralyze the military airport located in the west of Taiwan and what kind of damage would be sustained by these military facilities.
It is clear from tests carried out in China's Dingxin experimental air base in northern Gansu's Jiuquan and its Korla air base located in Xinjiang's Bayin'guoleng Mongol autonomous prefecture that the amount of damage that the air force and the Second Artillery Corps can inflict is increasing and that their objective has shifted from its traditional target, Taiwan, to Japan and US military bases in Japan. Attacking US and Taiwanese military air bases is one of the main training objectives of the PLA Air Force and Second Artillery Corps, according to China's Global Times.
The attack range of the PLA Air Force has expanded in recent years. During live-fire military exercises at Dingxin air base in autumn of this year, the air force deployed 170 third-generation fighters and 17 air force brigades. The top five pilots were selected from the air force. In December 2013, there were 15 Shenyang J-11 fighters, three Xian H-6 strategic bombers, seven Xian JH-7 fighter bombers, seven J-8II interceptor fighters and several Chengdu J-7 interceptors deployed at Dingxin air base for joint military exercises. Taiwan's Taichung Ching-Chuan-Kang Airport was within range of the multirole aircraft taking part in the exercises, particularly the ground-attack aircraft which make up 50% of China's military aircraft.
Read the full story at Want China Times