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China is preparing for nuclear missile strike, shocking satellite images reveal

Satellite images show China is building launch pads and bunkers near the isolated nuclear silos that hold its longest-range missiles

[China]

View 4 Images

The desert infrastructure is being built in China's Xinjiang region(Image: Vantor)

New satellite images show China is building launch pads and bunkers in preparation for a potential nuclear missile strike.

The vast military complex is taking shape near isolated nuclear silos that house the Chinese military's longest-range missiles, images released by Reuters show. Experts say the infrastructure is being built to ensure that no American first strike on China's nuclear arsenal could destroy Beijings ability to retaliate.

The desert infrastructure - which includes more than 80 launch pads for use by mobile missile launchers and air-defence batteries and three octagon-shaped installations - is located in eastern Xinjiang, in Chinas remote north-west, near the Hami nuclear silo field.

Two of the octagon structures, which contain accommodation for personnel and large military vehicles, have been built over the past six years. The third is less developed and appears to be used as a target range, with images showing pock-marked earth, damaged buildings and what analysts at satellite imagery provider Vantor say are mock-ups of Western jet fighters.

[China]

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The images reveal more than 80 launch pads(Image: Vantor)

The images also show facilities that could support electronic warfare, satellite communications and command operations, according to three security experts who analysed them.

The scale of the construction marks a major step-up in hardened infrastructure designed to protect and operate Chinas land-based nuclear forces as Beijing competes with the US in nuclear capability and tensions rise over issues such as Taiwans sovereignty.

"We can see this infrastructure is being built on a grand scale, covering thousands of square kilometres of desert beyond the silo fields," said Alexander Neill, an adjunct fellow at Hawaiis Pacific Forum think tank.

[The desert infrastructure is located in eastern Xinjiang]

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The infrastructure is located in eastern Xinjiang(Image: Vantor)

Depending on the precise capabilities, he said, "were looking at a very considerable enhancement and diversification of Chinas strategic nuclear deterrent."

Protecting its desert silos is considered key to Chinas stated goal of maintaining a minimal but credible nuclear deterrent - a policy based on the ability to retaliate if attacked first. While the Peoples Liberation Army can launch nuclear weapons from submarines and aircraft, the silo fields in the Xinjiang region and neighbouring Gansu province remain at the core of China's nuclear forces.

[China]

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The images also show facilities that could support electronic warfare(Image: Vantor)

Chinas nuclear build-up has become one of the most closely scrutinised aspects of President Xi Jinpings military modernisation programme because of what some foreign diplomats describe as Beijings lack of transparency and failed US efforts to engage Chinese officials over the countrys evolving nuclear capabilities.

Although China has a "no first use" policy under which it would not initiate a nuclear exchange, some senior Western diplomats and analysts say it could still resort to nuclear coercion to deter outside involvement in a conflict over Taiwan.

Earlier this month, Xi warned US President Donald Trump that mishandling of their countries' disagreements over Taiwan - which China claims as its territory - could lead them to a "dangerous place". Taiwans government rejects Chinas sovereignty claim.

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