On Aug 3 and 5, the official Chinese media reported that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was for the first time used to transport combat readiness air force materials and to complete an important logistic task for the PLA Air force.The reports did not say what those materials or logistic task were. Now, according to a blog posting on the Sri Lanka Guardian online Aug 10, the strategic logistic equipment transported was the ballistic missiles that were for the first time transported by the rail net work into Tibet for the use of the Air Force & missile units stationed inside Tibet.

The report said these missiles are based in the Qinghai province. In 1985 they were, for the first time transported out from Qinghai for display in China’s national day parade presided over by Deng Xiaoping. The live ballistic missiles were thus for the first time paraded in Beijing.

The PLA was at that time shocked to notice that these missiles had bottled up due to the pressure difference between Beijing and the rarified atmospheric pressure in Qinghai. The missiles were then repaired in Beijing.

Now the PLA has repeated the same exercise and tested whether these missiles can withstand the pressure difference during rail transportation through rarified atmospheric pressure. The results revealed showed that these were transported successfully.

The blog was posted by Mr B Raman, former Additional cabinet Secretary to the Government of India and currently the Director of the Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai, as well as an Associate of the Chennai Centre for China Studies. He cited a reader who he said was well-informed on China.