China's New Fighter
According to the reports of the Jane's Defence Weekly, China has already launched its next generation stealth aircraft fighter programme, and Shenyang Aircraft Industry Co. (SAC) has been selected to head research and development of a new fighter for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
Development
According to the report from Jane's, development of the subsystems including the engine and weapon suite for the next generation fighter, which was codenamed by the Western intelligence as J-XX, has been underway for some time. Images of the concepts show a twin-engine aircraft sharing some design traits with Lockheed Martin's stealth F/A-22 Raptor multirole fighter such as the internal carriage of its weapons.
Not too much public information about the programme is available at the moment. The aircraft, which could be designated as J-13 or J-14, is still going through initial concept work, so it would probably not be done until at least a decade after other fifth-generation fighters. The SAC is supposedly looking at a twin-engine, single-seat, single vertical tail fin design, but other design proposals have yet to be ruled out.
As China has developed close ties with Russia's aerospace industry and has license produced many planes of Soviet design, it can be predicted that the J-XX would include some, if not many Russian technologies and designs. China has been offered 'joint development and production' of a new fifth-generation fighter by Russia.
Stealth and vectored thrust are two must-have features in all aircraft being designed in the 21st century. If is not clear how much progress Chinese designers have made in these areas, and Chinese aircraft industry may have to take Western/Israeli/Russian help. Once introduced, the J-12's immediate rival would be the U.S. F/A-22, Joint Strike Fighter and India's MCA (Medium Combat Aircraft).