• Rat_in_a_hat@lemmy.ca
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    20 hours ago

    Is Reuters saying that it’s a bad thing for a country to protect it’s nuclear silos so bad actors don’t blow them up? What’s so nefarious about a country protecting nuclear silos?

    I think it’s more telling that they feel the need to do it because it seems that the US and Israel haven’t shied away from hitting nuclear facilities (aka war crimes).

    • perestroika@slrpnk.net
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      18 hours ago

      Reuters is not saying good or bad, they are just reporting that this happens.

      In the sense that more countries are better prepared to blow up vast amounts of stuff, one may conclude it’s bad.

      In the sense that deterrence may prevent conflict, some people may think it’s good.

      Either way, it’s real. China has mounted more warheads on missiles and is working to better protect them from a first strike. For whatever reason, they think this posture is necessary.

      • Rat_in_a_hat@lemmy.ca
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        12 hours ago

        I don’t know if we’ve read the same article because it reads as fear mongering defensive improvements with the tone that it’s for offensive use.

        China’s nuclear missiles can already reach any city in the United States. Now, satellite images reviewed by Reuters show Beijing is building a sprawling web of launch pads, bunkers and communications nodes near the isolated nuclear silos that hold the Chinese military’s longest-range missiles.

        China’s nuclear build-up is among the most scrutinized facets of President Xi Jinping’s military modernization because of what some foreign diplomats describe as Beijing’s lack of transparency and failed efforts by the United States to engage the Chinese leadership on its evolving nuclear capabilities and intentions.

        But some senior Western diplomats and analysts say China would possibly resort to nuclear coercion to limit outside involvement in a conflict over Taiwan.

        The scale of what is emerging in China’s northwestern desert has left even seasoned analysts startled.