A 2nd New Nuclear Missile Base for China, and Many Questions About Strategy

In the barren godforsaken 1,200 miles westbound of Beijing, the Chinese authorities is digging a caller tract of what appears to beryllium 110 silos for launching atomic missiles. It is the 2nd specified tract discovered by analysts studying commercialized outer images successful caller weeks.

It whitethorn signify a immense enlargement of China’s atomic arsenal — the cravings of an economical and technological superpower to amusement that, aft decades of restraint, it is acceptable to wield an arsenal the size of Washington’s, oregon Moscow’s.

Or, it whitethorn simply beryllium a creative, if costly, negotiating ploy.

The caller silos are intelligibly being built to beryllium discovered. The astir caller silo field, connected which operation began successful March, is successful the eastbound portion of Xinjiang province, not acold from 1 of China’s notorious “re-education” camps successful the metropolis of Hami. It was identified precocious past week by atomic experts astatine the Federation of American Scientists, utilizing images from a fleet of Planet Labs satellites, and shared with The New York Times.

But that appears to beryllium changing nether President Xi Jinping. At the aforesaid clip that China is cracking down connected dissent astatine home, asserting caller power implicit Hong Kong, threatening Taiwan and making acold much assertive usage of cyberweapons, it is besides headed into caller territory with atomic weapons.

“The silo operation astatine Yumen and Hami constitutes the astir important enlargement of the Chinese atomic arsenal ever,” Matt Korda and Hans M. Kristensen wrote successful a survey of the caller silo field. For decades, they noted, China has operated astir 20 silos for big, liquid-fuel missiles, called the DF-5. But the recently discovered field, combined with 1 hundreds of miles distant successful Yumen, successful northeast China, that was discovered by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies successful Monterey, Calif., volition springiness the state astir 230 caller silos. The beingness of that archetypal field, of astir 120 silos, was reported earlier by The Washington Post.

The enigma is wherefore China’s strategy has changed.

There are respective theories. The simplest is that China present views itself arsenic a full-spectrum economic, technological and subject superpower — and wants an arsenal to lucifer that status. Another anticipation is that China is acrophobic astir American rocket defenses, which are progressively effective, and India’s atomic buildup, which has been rapid. Then determination is the announcement of caller hypersonic and autonomous weapons by Russia, and the anticipation that Beijing wants a much effectual deterrent.

A 3rd is that China is disquieted that its fewer ground-based missiles are susceptible to onslaught — and by gathering much than 200 silos, dispersed retired successful 2 locations, they tin play a ammunition game, moving 20 oregon much missiles astir and making the United States conjecture wherever they are. That method is arsenic aged arsenic the atomic arms race.

“Just due to the fact that you physique the silos doesn’t mean you person to capable them each with missiles,” said Vipin Narang, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology prof who specializes successful atomic strategy. “They tin determination them around.”

And, of course, they tin commercialized them away. China whitethorn judge that sooner oregon aboriginal it volition beryllium drawn into arms power negotiations with the United States and Russia — thing President Donald J. Trump tried to unit during his past twelvemonth successful office, erstwhile helium said helium would not renew the New START pact with Russia unless China, which has ne'er participated successful atomic arms control, was included. The Chinese authorities dismissed the idea, saying that if the Americans were truthful concerned, they should chopped their arsenal by four-fifths to Chinese levels.

The effect was a stalemate. At the precise extremity of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his arms power envoy, Marshall Billingslea, wrote that “we’ve asked Beijing for transparency, and to articulation the United States and Russia successful crafting a caller arms power statement covering each categories of atomic weapons.”

“It is clip that China stopped posturing and began to comport itself responsibly,” they wrote.

But the Biden medication had concluded that it would beryllium unwise to fto New START expire with Russia simply due to the fact that China refused to join. Once successful office, President Biden moved rapidly to renew the pact with Russia, but his medication has said that astatine immoderate constituent it wants China to participate into immoderate benignant of agreement.

Those conversations person yet to begin. The lawman caput of state, Wendy Sherman, is successful China this week for the archetypal sojourn of a elder American diplomat since Mr. Biden took office, though it is not wide that atomic weapons are connected the agenda. She is headed adjacent to atomic discussions with Russia.

At the White House, the National Security Council declined to remark connected grounds of the expanding Chinese arsenal.

It is apt that American spy satellites picked up the caller operation months ago. But it each became nationalist aft Mr. Korda, a probe analyst astatine the Federation of American Scientists, a backstage group successful Washington, was utilizing civilian outer images to analyse the arid hinterlands of Xinjiang province, a rugged country of mountains and deserts successful northwestern China. He was hunting for ocular clues of silo operation that matched what researchers had already uncovered.

In February, the Federation of American Scientists reported the enlargement of rocket silos astatine a subject grooming tract adjacent Jilantai, a metropolis of Inner Mongolia. The radical recovered 14 caller silos nether construction. Then came the find successful Yumen.

In scanning the wilds of Xinjiang province, Mr. Korda was specifically looking for inflatable domes — not dissimilar those that location immoderate tennis courts. Chinese engineers erect them implicit the operation sites of underground rocket silos to fell the enactment below. Suddenly, astir 250 miles northwest of the precocious discovered base, helium recovered a tally of inflatable domes that were astir identical to those astatine Yumen, astatine what turned retired to beryllium different sprawling subject site.

The caller operation tract is successful a distant country that Chinese authorities person chopped disconnected from astir visitors. It sits astir 60 miles southwest of the metropolis of Hami, known arsenic the tract of a re-education camp wherever the Chinese authorities detains Uyghurs and members of different number groups. And it is astir 260 miles eastbound of a tidy complex of buildings with ample roofs that tin unfastened to the sky. Recently, analysts identified the site arsenic 1 of 5 subject bases wherever the Chinese forces person built lasers that tin fire beams of concentrated light astatine reconnaissance satellites, mostly sent aloft by the United States. The lasers unsighted oregon disable fragile optical sensors.

Working with his colleague, Mr. Kristensen, an arms adept who directs the group’s atomic accusation project, Mr. Korda utilized satellites photos to research the site.

The caller silos are a spot little than 2 miles from 1 another, their study said. Overall, it added, the sprawling operation tract covers astir 300 quadrate miles — akin successful size to the Yumen base, besides successful the desert.

Mr. Narang said the 2 caller silo fields gave the Chinese authorities “many options.”

“It’s not insane,” helium said. “They marque the United States people a batch of silos that whitethorn beryllium empty. They tin capable these silos dilatory if they request to physique up their force. And they get leverage successful arms control.”

“I’m amazed they didn’t bash this a decennary ago,” helium said.