Satellite images show CCP built mock-ups of U.S. warships
The Associated Press
Satellite images show the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has built mock-ups of a United States Navy aircraft carrier and destroyer in its northwestern desert, possibly for practice for a future naval clash as tensions rise between the nations.
The CCP has massively upgraded its military in recent years, and its capability and intentions are increasingly concerning to the U.S. as tensions rise over the South China Sea, Taiwan and military supremacy in the Indo-Pacific.
The images, pictured, show the outlines of a U.S. aircraft carrier and at least one destroyer sitting on a railway track. Colorado-based satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies identified the location as Ruoqiang, a Taklamakan Desert county in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
The independent U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) said on its website that the mock-ups of U.S. ships were part of a new target range developed by the People’s Liberation Army. It wasn’t clear from the images how many details had been included in the apparent targets, although USNI said it had identified features on the destroyer including its funnels and weapons systems.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a news briefing that he had no information about the images: “I’m not aware of the situation you mentioned.”
The CCP’s massive military upgrade has emphasized countering the U.S. and other countries’ naval forces. That includes developing land-, sea- and air-launched missiles to repel and possibly sink opposing vessels, expressed most emphatically by the land-based DF-21D ballistic missile known as the “carrier killer.”
Recent months have also seen a substantial increase in Chinese military flights just southwest of Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by Beijing and which it threatens to annex by force. Washington provides Taiwan with much of its weaponry, and U.S. law requires that it ensure the island can defend itself and treats threats to Taiwan as matters of “grave concern.”
IMAGE CREDIT: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
