USA: "Concern" about China's missile silos and possible expansion of the nuclear arsenal

The satellite images show the considerable extent of the construction work.

As the Washington Post reports, the construction of more than a hundred new silos for ballistic ICBMs has apparently begun in a desert in western China near the city of Yumen.

ICBMs are the primary means of delivering nuclear weapons.

The photos show 119 almost identical construction sites.

Now there is a reaction from the US government. Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department, responded to the revelations on Thursday (local time): “This construction work worries us. They raise questions about what China is really up to. «The development suggests that the People's Republic wants to expand its nuclear power faster and further than previously assumed. Price continues: "We call on Beijing to work with us to ensure that there is no destabilizing arms race."

The Washington Post published satellite images that researchers at the James Martin Center in California had evaluated.

So far it is assumed that China has only 250 to 350 nuclear weapons, with the new silos a considerable increase would be possible.

Together with construction sites in other parts of China, the total number of missile silos amounts to around 145, the researchers report.

The new silos are likely for a Chinese ICBM called "DF-41", it said in the article with reference to researcher Jeffrey Lewis.

This could carry multiple warheads and hit targets up to 15,000 kilometers away - which could even bring the US mainland within range.

100th anniversary threat from Beijing

The sometimes drastic statements made by Chinese President Xi Jinping on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party were of course followed closely in Washington.

One had "noticed" his threats, said spokesman Price, without wanting to go into further details.

In Beijing, Xi had threatened, among other things, with "bloody heads" if there was outside interference in China's affairs.

He did not explicitly mention the USA - but the message is likely to have got through.

Xi also dealt with Taiwan in detail in his address.

Beijing views Taiwan, which broke away from China in 1949, as a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland.

In Beijing, Xi said: "The clarification of the Taiwan question and the complete reunification with the motherland are the irrefutable historical tasks of the party and the common goal of all Chinese."

Now everyone has to work together, according to the president, "to smash any aspirations for Taiwan's independence".

However, reunification would have to happen by peaceful means.

jok / Reuters