Facility near Beijing may have been under construction since mid-2024

The images, obtained by the Financial Times, suggest major construction of the project began in mid-2024, as the People’s Liberation Army gears up for its centenary in 2027.

Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, has repeatedly warned that he intends to annex Taiwan by then, posing a major threat to the US, which relies on Taipei for its supply of microchips.

Dennis Wilder, the former head of China analysis for the CIA, said that if verified, the new complex signalled Beijing’s intention to develop its “advanced nuclear war-fighting capability”.

    • @[email protected]OPMEnglish
      8•11 hours ago

      Only with stronger international support than Ukraine received . . . which was already tense enough.

      Taiwan is 16.6x smaller than Ukraine, there is much less land needed to be captured.

      And China is far more capable an adversary than Russia has been for decades.

        • @[email protected]OPMEnglish
          6•10 hours ago

          Okay first off I’m going to have to ask you to remove the ‘chinaman’ thing, that’s considered a bit of a derogatory term these days and is unwelcome here.

          And I agree, Taiwan has had a lot more time to prepare, but that also applies to China as well. They have been building up based around this conflict forever. It’s going to be far more challenging for everyone than Ukraine was IMO.

          If I was Taiwan, I would have honestly been looking into nukes by now.

    • @Lost_My_Mind
      1•11 hours ago

      …in what way? I’m not even sure what you’re suggesting.

      • sunzu2
        1•11 hours ago

        Bogged down in a war of attrition. US and east Asian allies will make it very uncomfortable for China more so than what US and EU did for Russia

        • @Lost_My_Mind
          1•10 hours ago

          Oh, I’ve long ago came to the conclusion that’s never going to happen. Of all the things I can say bad about trump, warmonger doesn’t seem to be among those traits. But he still hates China. So anything China tries to do, say an invasion of Taiwan, trump would do everything to block just to fuck over China.

          And I have to assume that after 2028, future presidents will be politically sane enough not to start a war with China, but also protect Taiwan.

          So that invasion is never going to happen.