China’s missile arsenal expands TENFOLD at vast military display in just 10 years, declassified satellite pics show
SATELLITE images of China show the Communist country’s missile arsenal grew nearly tenfold in 10 years.
U.S. intelligence agencies captured the images and declassified them over the past week to show to NATO military alliance officers, Sinclair Broadcast Group reported on Friday.
China’s exponential arsenal growth is apparent in a juxtaposition of Tiananmen Square images on National Day, October 1, in 2009 versus 2019.
In 2009, the military parade in Beijing included a missiles display that was .48 kilometers long, or less than one-third of a mile.
But in the declassified image from the 2019 parade, the missile display extended more than two-and-a-half miles.
That’s almost tenfold.
China is “going to destroy the strategic equilibrium that has existed heretofore and they're going to propel the world into uncharted waters," said Ambassador Marshall Billingslea, who serves as a Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control.
"These are incredibly dangerous weapons,” he said.
China’s missile activity did not stop in 2019.
This year alone, despite the coronavirus pandemic, China has conducted at least 70 ballistic or ground-launched missile tests, according to data from the State Department obtained by Sinclair.
At that rate, China is on pace to match its ballistic missile launch numbers in 2018 and 2019.
China’s launch count last year—225—is more than that of all other countries combined.
The Communist regime has been “stonewalling” American diplomats’ efforts to talk about arms control, said Billingslea, who previously served as assistant secretary of the Treasury.
China’s expansion is so concerning that Billingslea said American officials have discussed the matter with Russians.
Billingslea spoke with Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov about pressuring China to join an arms control agreement.
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“The next arms control treaty must include China,” said Billingslea, adding that Ryabkov agrees.
China’s intentions with its missile program are “not clear,” Billingslea said.
"The same kind of obsessive secrecy that they apply to the coronavirus outbreak is the kind of secrecy that they're applying to their nuclear weapons program,” he said.