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China is building a 2nd base for nuclear missiles, say analysts:
Analysts at the Federation of American Scientists say China is building a second field of silos for launching nuclear missiles in a development that could constitute “the most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever”.
The United States-based researchers made the discovery after analysing commercial satellite images, and said on Monday that the field – located near the city of Hami in Xinjiang province – may eventually include about 110 silos.
The new field is about 380km (236 miles) from a base near the city of Yumen in neighbouring Gansu province, where a separate group of researchers earlier this month found construction under way on 120 missile silos.
Altogether, the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force now appears to have 250 silos under construction at Hami, Yumen, as well as at a training ground near the city of Jilantai in Inner Mongolia, wrote the FAS’s Matt Korda and Hans Kristensen.
[...] “The number of new Chinese silos under construction exceeds the number of silo-based ICBMs operated by Russia, and constitutes more than half of the size of the entire US ICBM force,” they wrote. “The Chinese missile silo program constitutes the most extensive silo construction since the US and Soviet missile silo construction during the Cold War.”
However, they stressed that it was unclear how China would operate the new silos, whether it would load all of them with missiles or use a portion as empty decoys. They also noted it was not known how many warheads each missile would carry.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Sunday August 01 2021, @12:43PM (14 children)
This is one of the biggest problems with an opaque government. You never know what they're doing or what the various factions are thinking. Even when you find out what they're doing, it's often years after the decisions were made. This is the heart of Kremlinology [wikipedia.org] - carefully analyzing actions today to figure out what important events happened years ago.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday August 01 2021, @04:10PM (11 children)
"Kremlinologists" -- That's funny stuff, like today's modern conspiracy theorist:
As for missile count, the story is that China still has some catching up to do.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Touché) by turgid on Sunday August 01 2021, @04:16PM (1 child)
Did they count the tea leaves too? And see which way the stripes went on their socks and ties?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Monday August 02 2021, @05:14AM
It might sound silly, but this sort of stuff was necessary to have any understanding of what was going on in the heads of the elite of these governments.
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Monday August 02 2021, @04:44AM (8 children)
Except that the "conspiracy" is overt.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday August 02 2021, @05:25PM (7 children)
Always is... "hidden in plain sight"
So, deep down you're "QAnon", eh?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Monday August 02 2021, @09:50PM (6 children)
Where "plain sight" is a massive country that you're not allowed to poke around in.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday August 02 2021, @09:59PM (5 children)
Yeah, so they're gonna hang the picture of Lenin just a little bit crooked to signal they're invading Poland tonight at 11pm Eastern/10pm Central, but only if the German Chancellor sits across from the Swedish Prime Minister and the waiter serves him beluga caviar from his left side
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Monday August 02 2021, @10:06PM (4 children)
Well, if that's how they do it, then they'll do it that way. You're missing that this sort of analysis works. In the real world, subtle status signaling was and is a common feature of authoritarian governments like the USSR or present day China. One can tell who is in favor from their public status, and that in turn can give clues about what the present day policy of the authoritarian government is.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday August 02 2021, @10:13PM (3 children)
Ah, so it's just status seeking and adjusting the plumage on your hat. Only happens in "foreign" culture.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Monday August 02 2021, @11:35PM (2 children)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday August 03 2021, @12:46AM (1 child)
Very revealing that you call it "Kremlinology"
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Tuesday August 03 2021, @01:50AM
What's a better label to use here?
Kremlinology was a systematic study of the observable behavior of an otherwise black box government and culture. That's exactly the situation here with China. So why not reuse a good label again?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 01 2021, @05:09PM (1 child)
It would make sense to build 100 similar bases. And then to put one missile in every 20th or 50th silo. An attacker would have to target 10,000 silos if he were hoping to get all the missiles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 02 2021, @11:40PM
Oh just wait for it, they'll be more silos, maybe not 50 or 100 but they'll be a few more. Meanwhile they're also building fake islands in the South China sea where real nuke warheads in subs are prowling much closer to the rest of the world.