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The Chinese soldiers build a massive complex in the west of Beijing which, according to the United States, will serve as a command center in wartime much larger than the Pentagon, according to current and ancient American officials.
The satellite images obtained by the Financial Times which are examined by American intelligence show a construction site of approximately 1,500 acres 30 km southwest of Beijing with deep holes that military experts will evaluate large bunkers hardened to protect Chinese soldiers Managers during any conflict – including a nuclear war.
Several current and former US officials have declared that the intelligence community closely monitored the site, which would be the largest military command center in the world – and at least 10 times the size of the Pentagon.
Based on an assessment of satellite images obtained by the FT, the major construction began in mid-2024. Three people familiar with the situation said that some intelligence analysts have nicknamed the “Beijing military city” project.
Construction comes as the Popular Liberation Army developed new weapons and projects before the Centenary of Force in 2027. Us Intelligence says that the president Xi Jinping also ordered the PLA to have developed the ability to attack Taiwan by then.
The PLA is also quickly Expand its arsenal of nuclear weapons And work to better integrate your different branches. Military experts believe that the lack of integration of the APL is among its greatest weaknesses compared to the American armed forces.
“If it is confirmed, this new underground command bunker advanced for the military management, in particular President XI as president of the Central Military Commission, indicates Beijing’s intention to build not only a conventional world class force but also A capacity to combat advanced nuclear war, “said Dennis Wilder, the former China chief for the CIA.
The national intelligence director, who oversees the American intelligence community, did not comment on the project. The China Embassy in Washington said it was “not aware of details” but stressed that China was “attached to the Pacific Development Way and a defensive defense policy”.
Renny Babiarz, former analyst of the Images of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency who analyzed the imagery of the region, said that there were at least 100 cranes working on an area of five square kilometers developing an underground infrastructure.
“Imaging analysis suggests the construction of several possible underground installations linked to possible underground passages, although additional data and information is necessary to assess this construction more fully,” said Babiarz, now vice-president of Analysis and operations in Allsource Analysis, a geospatial analysis group of services.
The West Beijing site was occupied by a construction activity at the beginning of the month, unlike a development shortage in most major real estate projects in China, which was seized by a crisis in the real estate sector. There were no exhibition rooms generally associated with a commercial real estate project. Exceptionally for a commercial project, there are no official mentions of the internet construction site in Chinese.
Although there is no military presence visible on the site, there were panels warning against flying drones or taking photos. The guards of a door suddenly declared that the entry was prohibited and refused to talk about the project. A supervisor leaving the construction site refused to comment on the project.
Access to the rear of the project was blocked by a checkpoint. A goalkeeper said that the public could not access popular hikes and tourist areas near the site, which a local merchant described as a “military zone”.
A former senior American intelligence official said that even if the APL’s current headquarters in the Beijing center was quite new, it was not designed to be a secure combat control center.
“The main secure command center of China is in the Western hills, northeast of the new installation, and was built decades ago at the height of the Cold War,” said the former manager . “The size, scale and partially buried characteristics of the new installation suggest that it will replace the Western Hills complex as the main war command installation.
“Chinese leaders can judge that the new installation will allow greater security against” bunker buster “ammunition, and even against nuclear weapons,” added the former intelligence official. “He can also integrate more advanced communications and secure and have room to extend the capacities and missions of the APL. ”
A researcher in China familiar with the images said that the site had “all the characteristics of a sensitive military installation”, including strongly reinforced concrete and deep underground tunnels.
“Almost 10 times larger than the Pentagon, this is suitable for Xi Jinping’s ambitions to overtake the United States,” said the researcher. “This fortress only serves one goal, which must act as an apocalyptic bunker for the increasingly sophisticated and capable soldiers of China.”
The construction of the site is involved in the middle of a multi -year redevelopment of the western periphery of Beijing. But there have been online speculation in China on the reasons why the houses in the Qinglonghu region were shaved.
In an article on Baidu Zhidao, the equivalent of quora by the Chinese search engine, a user said: “Will they build the Chinese Pentagon in Qinglonghu?”
Two people close to the Taiwan Ministry of Defense also said that the APL seemed to build a new command center, although some experts wondered if the region was adapted to underground bunkers.
“The land zone is much larger than a normal military camp and a military school, it cannot therefore be assumed that it is a site for an administrative organization or a large training base,” said Hsu Yen-Chi, Researcher at the Council for Strategic Studies and Wargaming Tank-Tank in Taipei.
