Satellite images have revealed that China is building missile silo fields in the remote west of the country.
According to reports, about 200 missile fields have been discovered, using satellite imagery.
This is believed to be the ‘most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever’, according to the Financial Times.
Matt Korda and Hans Kristensen, two nuclear scientists quoted by the Financial Times, believe that China is building ten times as many missile silos as it has now. Furthermore, after this expansion its arsenal of inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) will exceed that of Russia and be 50% of that of the United States (although the total number of nuclear weapons China has is still far below that of the other two countries).
‘The expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal is increasingly driven by a change in geopolitical perspective,’ said Zhao Tong, a nuclear policy expert in Beijing.
Analysts also believe that this signifies a change in China’s ‘minimum deterrence’ policy whereby the country had pledged to use nuclear weapons only in the event of a first strike against it. However, these new developments could mean that China has now abandoned that policy, with serious implications for the world.
[Image: Digi_shot]