Days after US President Donald Trump claimed that China had conducted underground nuclear tests unknown to the public, a CNN investigation found that Beijing has been rapidly expanding its missile-making capacity over five years, replacing villages and farmland.
More than 60% of the Chinese military’s 136 facilities linked to the production of missiles or missile power show signs of expansion, the report said.
She further stated that satellite images show new towers, bunkers and berms in line with weapons development.
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Some factories are tucked away in cities, next to residential buildings and restaurants — and the facilities were built near entities associated with the aerospace defense industry.
“China is already sprinting and they are preparing for a marathon,” said William Alberque, former NATO arms control director.
Alberque called the expansion China’s position as a global superpower.
“We are in the early stages of a new arms race,” added Alberque, who is also a senior associate member of the Pacific Forum.
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China’s largest and growing inventory of modern weapons poses a challenge to U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts, Timothy Heath, senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation, said in a TWZ article.
Heath says US intelligence capabilities are quite sophisticated and can gather considerable data on systems once they are deployed.
Stating that Chinese technology has greatly improved and many of their weapon systems and equipment are behind only the US, he added: “These are sophisticated and lethal systems and could pose a serious challenge to US military forces on the battlefield.”
Meanwhile, China commissioned its third aircraft carrier Fujian in a ceremony attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, shrouded in secrecy.
The aircraft carrier is reported to be the most advanced warship equipped with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), which is used only by the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
While official media reported its commissioning on Friday, a report by state news agency Xinhua said Xi attended the commissioning ceremony and presentation of the Fujian flag at Sanya port in south China’s Hainan province on Wednesday, PTI reported.
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Amid rising tensions with the US, China may build more aircraft carriers to operate on various global sea routes, according to analysts.
In September, China showed off a range of new weapons for the first time in a massive military parade that included laser weapons, nuclear ballistic missiles, giant underwater drones, in addition to fifth-generation aircraft, to show off its military might.
One of the much-talked-about new weapons on display at the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) parade was the LY-1 giant laser weapon mounted on the HZ-155 eight-wheeled armored truck.
