China is attempting to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to newly obtained satellite photos.
Such a development would allow Beijing’s navy to operate across the globe, posing serious threats to Western security.
Analysts working for the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California made the discovery while studying images of a secretive mountain facility known as Base 909.
Satellite photos of the site – located near the city of Leshan in the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan – had been taken over a three year period between 2020 and 2023.
Researchers initially believed that China was building a nuclear reactor at the site to produce plutonium for atomic weapons.
However, they soon realised that Beijing was constructing a reactor to power a massive warship, such as an aircraft carrier.
Images showed that between 2022 and 2023 homes in the area had been razed and that a building had been constructed – the purpose of which seemed to be to pump water to the reactor site.
In documents shared with the AP news agency, the researchers also said they had sifted through thousands of documents, from project tenders and personnel files to environmental impact studies.
The project was referred to as a “national defence-related construction project” that is classified “secret” in one environmental impact report.
“Unless China is developing nuclear-powered cruisers, which were pursued only by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, then the Nuclear Power Development Project most certainly refers to a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier development effort,” researchers wrote in a detailed 19-page report.
A security expert from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told AP that a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier would put China’s navy on a par with those of the USA and France.
“Nuclear-powered carriers would place China in the exclusive ranks of first-class naval powers, a group currently limited to the United States and France,” Tong Zhao said.
“For China’s leadership, such a development would symbolise national prestige, fuelling domestic nationalism and elevating the country’s global image as a leading power.”
The researchers were unable to predict when the nuclear-powered ship might be commissioned into service.
Beijing has previously announced it was building a fourth aircraft carrier in addition to the three it currently has.
According to the China Military Power Report published by the Pentagon, as of October 2023, Beijing has the numerically largest navy in the world.
It has an overall battle force of approximately 370 surface ships and submarines, including over 140 major surface combatants.