New satellite images show a strong expansion of the Chinese missile program.
Researchers from the Federation of American Scientists have discovered 250 suspected nuclear missile silos under construction in a desert in western Xinjiang Province.
On June 4, 2021, a satellite image provided by Planet Labs Inc. received expert commentary, showing what analysts believe is an array of ICBMs near Yumen, China. AP
China’s growing nuclear inventory was just one of many threats highlighted at a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.
“Xi Jinping has one goal: to be the geopolitical, military and economic leader of the world. Period, ”said William Evanina, Fmr. Gov. National Counterintelligence & Security Center, the US legislature during the hearing.
Xinjiang Province is the same region where human rights groups believe Beijing is holding around 2 million Muslim Uyghurs in huge concentration camps as part of the communist government’s genocide of the ethnic minority group.
Pictures of a huge area in northern China also show several silos under construction. These would likely house ICBMs, each of which can carry multiple warheads.
This composite photo of satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs Inc. in June 2021 shows what analysts believe is an array of ICBM silos near Hami, China. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)
The US Strategic Command, the overseer of the US nuclear arsenal, responded to these alarming revelations with a tweet: “The public has discovered what we have been saying all along about the growing threat to the world and the veil of secrecy that surrounds it. “
This is the second time in two months that the public has discovered what we’ve been saying all along about the growing threat the world faces and the veil of secrecy that surrounds it. co / OTFkP14H5o
– US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) July 27, 2021
China already has 350 nuclear warheads – an arsenal that the Pentagon believes will double in the next ten years.
“This rapid accumulation is more difficult to hide and shows how the PRC [People’s Republic of China] seems again to be deviating from a decade-long nuclear strategy based on minimal deterrence, “said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
It is further evidence of China’s increasingly assertive military ambitions under President Xi Jinping.
Speaking to US intelligence last week, President Joe Biden said China was “very serious about becoming the world’s most powerful military power and the world’s largest and most important economy by the mid-1940s. 2040s. “
Senator Mark Warner, (D-VA) chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told committee members during the hearing on Wednesday that China is focused on targeting US key technologies for both acquisition and development. These include aerospace, advanced manufacturing, AI, biotechnology, data analytics, semiconductors, renewable energies to ensure the future dominance of the People’s Republic of China in these areas. “
Committee members also heard witnesses share how China is penetrating almost every facet of American life – from science to Hollywood and private corporations to state and local governments, experts say Beijing’s influence extends far and wide.
“The title of this hearing is The Long Arm of China. The long arm of China is not a futuristic threat, it is already there, ”said Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
“It is the most complex, pernicious, aggressive, and strategic threat our nation has ever faced,” warned Evanina.
Senator Rubio accused China of “having already carried out the largest illegal transfer of wealth from one country to another in human history,” mainly through American technology and intellectual property.
“They have armed our openness, our decency and our corporate greed against us,” he said.
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