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China’s army is building a massive complex in Western Beijing that American intelligence believes will serve as a command center of war much larger than Pentagon, according to current and previous American officials.
Satellite images taken by the Financial Times being examined by US intelligence show a construction site approximately 1,500 hectares of 30 km southwest of Beijing with deep holes that military experts estimate will accommodate large bunkers, hardened to protect leaders Chinese military during any conflict- potentially involved a nuclear war.
Some current and previous US officials said the intelligence community is closely monitoring the site, which would be the largest military command center in the world – and at least 10 times more than Pentagon size.
Based on an appreciation of satellite images obtained from the FT, the large construction began in mid -2024. Three people familiar with the situation said some intelligence analysts have called the project “Beijing Military City”.
Construction comes as the army of erating the liberation of the people develops new weapons and projects before the Centum of Force in 2027. US intelligence says President Xi Jinping has also ordered PLA to have developed the ability to attack Taiwan until then.
PLA is also rapidly expanding its nuclear weapon arsenal and is working to better integrate its various branches. Military experts believe that the lack of PLA integration is one of its greatest weaknesses compared to the US Armed Forces.
“If confirmed, this new bunker of the advanced underground command for military leadership, including President XI as Chairman of the Central Military Commission, signals the Beijing intention to build not only a conventional world force but also a advanced ability to Nuclear war, ”said Dennis Wilder, former China’s analysis for CIA.
The Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the American Intelligence Community, did not comment on the project. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was not “aware of the details”, but stressed that China was “engaged in the path of peaceful development and a protective policy in nature”.
Renny Babiarz, a former images of the images of the National Intelligence Agency Geospatial-Intelligence, who analyzed images of the area, said there were at least 100 cranes working on a five-square-kilometer area developing underground infrastructure.
“Image analysis suggests building some possible underground objects linked through possible underground crossings, although additional data and information are needed to fully assess this construction,” said Babiarz, now Vice -President of Analysis and Operations at Allsource Analysis , a geospatial analysis of service group.
The area in Western Beijing was busy with construction activity earlier this month, in contrast to a lack of development in most large real estate projects in China, which was captured by a crisis of the asset sector. There were no exhibition halls usually connected to a commercial real estate project. Unusual for a trading project, there is no official mention of the Internet construction site in Chinese.
While there was no apparent military presence in this country, there were warning signs against flying drones or photography. The guards at a gate suddenly said the entrance was forbidden and refused to talk about the project. A supervisor who left the construction site declined to comment on the project.
Access to the back of the project is blocked by a checkpoint. One guard said the public could not enter popular walking zones and tourists near the site, which a local shop described as a “military zone”.
A former US intelligence official said while the current PLA headquarters in the Central Beijing was quite young, it was not created to be a safe center of combat commands.
“The main center of China’s safe command is in Hills Western, north-east of the new building, and was built decades ago at the height of the Cold War,” the former official said. “The size, scale and characteristics of the new object is buried to replace the Western Hills complex as the main object of the war command.
“Chinese executives can judge that the new facility will enable greater security against the ammunition of the American” bunker “, and even against nuclear weapons,” the former intelligence official added. “It can also include more advanced and secure communications and have room for expanding the skills and missions of the PLA.”
A China researcher known for the images said the site had “all the signs of a sensitive military object”, including highly reinforced and deep underground concrete tunnels.
“Almost 10 times larger than Pentagon, it is appropriate for the ambitions of Xi Jinping to exceed the US,” the researcher said. “This castle only serves for one purpose, which is to act as a day -to -day bunker for the increasingly sophisticated and capable army of China.”
The construction of the site comes in the midst of a perennial redevelopment of the Western suburbs of Beijing. But there have been online speculation in China why homes in the Qinglongu area were being destroyed.
In a post in Baidu Zhidao, the equivalent of the Chinese search engine with Quora, one user said: “Will the Chinese Pentagon build in Qinglongu?”
Two people near the Taiwan Ministry of Defense also said PLA seemed to be building a new command center, though some experts questioned whether the area was suitable for underground bunkers.
“The land area is much larger than a normal military camp and a military school, so it can be assumed that it is a site for an administrative organization or a large training base,” said Hsu Yen-Chi, a researcher at the Council of Strategic and Wargating studies think-tank in Taipei.
