China shows off stealth fighter as it unveils new laser weapon that can shoot down missiles and spy planes

China has flaunted its advanced stealth fighter jets with full missile loads for the first time as Beijing flexed its military might at its biennial air show.

Two Chinese J-20s – China’s answer to the US F-22s and F-35s – roared over the crowds in Zhuhai, a southern Chinese city, with its bomb bay doors open to show off four long-range air-to-air missiles inside, and two short-range combat missiles under the wings.

But despite state media describing the flyover as a “stunning aerial display”, the move masked the crucial fact that China’s fighter jets are still using Russian-made engines, even after reportedly spending $4.4 billion developing the J-20.

“China made a point at this air show about just how far they have come, even if there are still areas to improve on,” said Meia Nouwens, a research fellow who specialises on China’s military at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

China has long struggled to build its own jet engines for both commercial and military aircraft, and boosting this capability is considered a major development goal by the government.

Beijing is still heavily reliant on technology from abroad. Engines accounted for about 30 per cent of all imports from 2012 to 2016, even as China started making more of its own advanced weapons and relying less on arms imports overall, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Experts note that spying has played a key role in China’s overarching strategy to modernise its military – the illicit acquisition of technology could help China skip over challenges that could take billions of dollars and years of research and development.

The last three cases the US has brought against China for alleged espionage all involved stealing trade secrets and information from major aerospace and aviation military contractors, including GE Aviation, a top jet engine supplier for US defence aircraft.

Despite China still lagging in traditional military capabilities, the country hasn’t been shy about revealing new weapons systems, and its growing interest in selling those technologies to other countries.

China’s arms exports have nearly tripled over the last two decades, making it among the world’s top five weapons exporters after the US, Russia, Germany and France, accounting for roughly five percent of total arms trade, according to the SIPRI.

At the Zhuhai air show, China also unveiled a new vehicle-based laser weapon, the LW-30 – essentially an armoured tank, which uses a laser to intercept aerial targets such as drones, guided bombs and mortars, and is capable of long-range detection and imaging, according to state media.

China “showed off new missiles of a variety of functions and sizes for the export market,” said Ms Nouwens, pointing to a supersonic cruise missile that China has developed, and a similar missile developed by China and Russia.

“Perhaps a bigger message is that this is what they’re comfortable showing to the global public and some of what they are willing to export ­– it leaves one wondering what they’re not willing to show in public and export, but keeping for themselves instead.”