freebeacon | China recently upgraded its subway system in Beijing and revealed
that its mass transit was hardened to withstand nuclear blasts or
chemical gas attacks in a future war, state-run media reported last
month.
The disclosure of the military aspects of the underground rail system
followed completion and opening of a new subway line in the Chinese
capital Dec. 30, along with the extension of several other lines. The
subway upgrade is part of an effort to ease gridlocked traffic in the
city of 20 million people.
According to Chinese civil defense officials quoted Dec. 5 in the Global Times,
a newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee,
the subway can “withstand a nuclear or poison gas attack.”
A U.S. official said the disclosure of the subway’s capabilities to
withstand attack is unusual since it highlights Beijing’s strategic
nuclear modernization program, something normally kept secret from
state-controlled media. The strategic nuclear buildup includes the
expansion of offensive nuclear forces, missile defenses, and
anti-satellite arms.
China is building new long-range mobile missiles, including the
DF-41, and plans to deploy up to eight new ballistic missile submarines.
Reports from Asia indicate the Chinese military is also planning to
build new long-range strategic nuclear bombers.
Russia too is expanding its nuclear forces with new submarines and
missiles. Moscow announced last year that it is also constructing some
5,000 underground bomb shelters in Russia’s capital in anticipation of a
possible future nuclear conflict.
By contrast, the U.S. government has done little to bolster civil
defense measures, preferring the largely outdated concept of mutual
assured destruction that leaves populations vulnerable to attack and
building only limited missile defenses that the Obama administration has
said are not designed to counter Chinese or Russian nuclear strikes.
The Obama administration instead is seeking deep cuts in U.S. nuclear
forces as part of President Barack Obama’s policy of seeking the
elimination of all nuclear arms.
