China is actively building hidden nuclear complexes in remote mountain valleys in southwestern Sichuan province. This is reported by The New York Times, citing satellite data.
One of the key facilities that has attracted the attention of journalists and experts is located in the Zitong Valley, in Sichuan province, where engineers are building new bunkers and fortifications. The new complex is dotted with pipes, suggesting that the facility processes highly hazardous materials.
Another valley is home to a double-fenced facility known as Pingtong, where experts believe China is producing nuclear warhead cores filled with plutonium. The central structure, with its 117-meter ventilation pipe, has recently been renovated, adding new vents and radiators. Nearby, construction is in full swing, and above the entrance is a giant sign with the words of Chinese leader Xi Jinping:
''Stay true to the fundamental cause and always remember our mission.''
This appeal symbolizes the ideological basis of nuclear expansion.
These complexes are just part of a network of secret facilities created in the 1960s under Mao Zedong's ''Third Front'' project. At that time, tens of thousands of scientists carved laboratories into the mountains to protect the nuclear program from attacks by the United States or the Soviet Union. After the détente in the 1980s, many of them were downsized, but since 2019, modernization has accelerated.
“The changes we are seeing in these places are consistent with China's broader ambitions to become a global superpower. Nuclear weapons are an integral part of that,“ said Renee Babiartz, a geospatial intelligence expert.
The Pentagon estimates that China already has more than 600 warheads and plans to double that number by 2030. While that is fewer than the arsenals of the United States or Russia, the increase has raised concerns in Washington. Deputy Secretary of State Thomas G. DiNano previously accused Beijing of secret nuclear tests that violate a global moratorium.