Recent satellite photos appear to suggest that the Chinese military has expand Its nuclear testing facility is in occupied East Turkestan, a predominantly Uighur region where the Communist Party is carrying out genocide, according to one analysis. Nikkei Asia The magazine is published Monday.
Nikkei Asia Recently taken satellite photos were obtained from Planet Labs, a US public earth imaging company, and reviewed with experts to determine their significance. Nippon Shimbun shared its findings on August 1, writing:
Extensive mulch has been erected on the hillsides in this arid region, and rubble piled up nearby is thought to be evidence of excavating a new “sixth tunnel” hidden below for testing.
Power transmission cables and facilities that can be used to store high explosives have recently been installed, while unpaved white roads lead in all directions from the command post.
Evidence of new building detected by satellite 450 kilometers away [280 miles] Above Lop Nur, a dry salt lake in southeastern China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region [East Turkistan]. Many analysts believe that clandestine nuclear test zones are [Chinese] People’s Liberation Army [PLA].
A satellite located 450 kilometers above Lop Nur, a dry salt lake in the west-southeast, has detected evidence of new construction #Chinaof #Xinjiang #Uighur autonomous region. https://t.co/zvvmHW0uCk
— Nikkei Asia (@NikkeiAsia) August 2, 2022
Satellite image of the Lop Nur region in East Turkestan Nikkei Asia The August 1 data was obtained sometime between June and July, as the magazine noted the site’s suspicious storage facility was completed in June. According to the publication, satellite imagery first captured Chinese soldiers leveling terrain near Lop Nur in October 2020, and then recorded large trucks driving through the area sometime in 2021.
“[T]The power infrastructure for the sixth tunnel will be completed in the first half of 2022. ” Nikkei Asia.
The magazine further revealed that, over the past two years, the Lop Nur development has simultaneously detected an “increase in radiation.”
The last time the People’s Liberation Army conducted an underground nuclear test at Lop Nur was in 1996, according to official records. Recent military activity around the lake — particularly the suspected construction of a tunnel — suggests Beijing plans to resume such activity in the area.
Although China’s nuclear arsenal has aged since its last nuclear test at Lop Nur 25 years ago, Beijing has been working to improve its nuclear capabilities in recent years.
“As of 2020, the country [China] is developing a new ICBM, or ICBM, that will “significantly increase its nuclear-capable missile force,” relayed citing an annual in january Report By the US Department of Defense.
“quantity [Chinese] The Pentagon report said the number of land-based ICBM warheads “capable of threatening the United States” is expected to reach about 200 in the next five years. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in a 2021 study that Beijing had previously retained only about 20 siloed ICBMs,” VOA observed.
