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- [Host] This map shows the maximum range
of China's land-based conventional strike missiles in 2015.
Less than a decade later,
that range has doubled, putting all American bases
in the Asia Pacific, including Guam within the range
of precision missiles fired from the Chinese mainland.
A secretive Chinese military unit is responsible
for that expansion, and now controls one of the largest
and most diverse land-based missile forces in the world.
Details of the force are some
of China's most tightly guarded secrets,
but Western intelligence agencies
and researchers have revealed evidence of its dramatic rise.
- China has rapidly increased its missile arsenal.
This is a menacing challenge to the United States.
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- [Host] In August, 2023, Chinese leader Xi Jinping
suddenly ousted and replaced the head
of an opaque military unit called the rocket force.
China's leaders have tasked this force
with its highest military objective.
(group cheering)
Preparing for a possible invasion of Taiwan
(bombs exploding)
and deterring the United States from intervening.
(man speaking foreign language)
- [Host] In recent years,
the force has test launched hundreds of ballistic missiles
at a rate that has exceeded the rest of the world combined.
Alexander Neal is a former defense
analyst for the British government.
- The PLA rocket force has six bases spread across China
in an arc in the south, which are responsible for
a potential Taiwan conflict.
Then up in the Northeast, which is responsible
for Korean Peninsula
and targeting Japan,
there's a dedicated base in central China.
And finally, a base which is responsible for the
northwest of China.
- [Host] On top of these six main bases,
which are numbered from 61 to 66,
the rocket force also has several supporting bases,
one of which is regarded as the most important.
- Base 67 is the most secretive
of the PLA rocket force basis.
The guardian of China's strategic nuclear deterrent.
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- Little is known about the base in Baoji City
in central China, but bunkers dug into
the Qinling Mountain Range on the outskirts
of the city houses most of China's
nuclear warheads stockpile.
- From Base 67, the warheads subsequently distributed
by rail all across China, northwest, northeast,
and into the south, across the brigades responsible
for launch and deployments of the nuclear deterrent.
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- [Host] Bases in China's north are tasked
with maintaining nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic
missiles focused on targets on the US mainland.
- A number of scientists looking at civilian imagery
spotted three new missile silo fields under development.
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The silo fields are based in very deserted areas
outside of Hami, Yumen City and Ordos City.
- [Host] Silos are built as circular tubes into the ground
and contain propellants to launch missiles.
- You can see here the Ordos silo field,
which is typically made up of about 100 silos here.
An important aspect
of silo fields is something called a shell game.
You might have 100 silos, but you may fill only 50% of them,
and the adversary has to calculate which
of those silos are armed in order to make a calculation
for a counterstrike.
And a shell game is designed to keep the adversary guessing
and also to reserve your own number of warheads as well.
- [Host] The construction in Ordos, Hami
and Yumen is thought to be the most extensive buildup
of missile silos since the Cold War.
If China mounts nuclear warheads on missiles in these silos,
it will present a huge strategic shift
for US military planners.
- You can see here that the arc
of the three silo fields is designed to launch missiles
over the North Pole
and to the continental United States.
- [Host] All this could give Beijing the military capability
to deter Washington from engaging China militarily
in the event of an invasion of Taiwan.
(bombs exploding)
The rocket force recently demonstrated its capability
to strike Taiwan during a conflict.
- Subordinate to Base 61 are a number
of brigades involved in the targeting of Taiwan
during missile tests,
when Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, 2022.
(bombs exploding)
- [Host] China conducted several days of military exercises.
- A number of short and intermediate range missiles
were launched into exclusion zones
to the north and south of Taiwan.
One of them was to the east and seaboard,
and there were also some short range rocket firings
between Taiwan and Fujian province.
- [Host] China has been building up
its missile capacity near Taiwan for years,
but drills during Pelosi's visit
demonstrate the rocket force's new capability
to target the entire periphery of Taiwan.
- These brigades are one
of the sharpest tools in their arsenal
to mount a devastating missile attack on the island
to blockade the island to close off shipping lanes
and to mount a stranglehold on the island during times
of political sensitivity.
- [Host] China views Taiwan's autonomy
and its links with the US as a geostrategic vulnerability.
- So if we flip the map, it depicts the challenge
that China is facing.
It's hemmed in to some degree
by the first island chain,
and to a lesser extent by the second island chain.
It's a dilemma of oceanic geography,
but in a military sense,
this is why the rocket force is so important.
The rocket force would play a key role
to prevent intervention of the United States
and allies were at war to break out over Taiwan.
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- [Host] The Rocket forces developed missiles capable
of striking US forces coming
to Taiwan's aid within the first and second island chains.
One of these is the Don Fang 26,
known as the carrier killer.
The weapon has been deployed to a number
of brigades posing a challenge to the US.
- The DF-26 can be either conventionally armed
or nuclear armed.
It can accurately target bases like Guam,
but it can also target an aircraft carrier strike group.
So this presents a major challenge
for United States in terms
of its counter intervention campaign.
(bombs exploding)
- [Host] The Biden administration has said US forces
will support Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
China's rocket force now presents a serious threat
to the US' ability to do that
dramatically raising the stakes in any conflict
over the island.
China's ministry of defense did not respond to a request
for comment.
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