China Flight Tests New Multiple-Warhead Missile

 

DF-41 launch comes amid heightened tensions over S. China Sea

China conducted another flight test of its newest and longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile last week amid growing tensions with the United States over the South China Sea.

Pentagon officials told the Free Beacon the flight test of the new road-mobile DF-41 missile took place Tuesday with two multiple, independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, that were monitored in flight by U.S. military satellites and other regional sensors.

China Is Still Building Ghost Cities

Image Credit: China construction image via TonyV3112 / Shutterstock.com

 

Plans for new urban areas would provide housing for 3.4 billion people — far more than China’s total population.

A new surge of urban development may create a new wave of “ghost cities” in China, as the country draws up plans to house as many as 3.4 billion people, far in excess of its current population.

Reports from both official news agency Xinhua and the independent media outlet Thepaper.cn say that urban planning in China is out of control, as each of the country’s provincial capitals is planning to build an average of 4.6 new urban districts, and regional cities look to build an average of 1.5 new districts.

Building on ties: New premier indicates plan to link Gwadar with China

Newly-elected Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, in his maiden speech, revealed that Islamabad and Beijing have expressed a keen desire to implement the Gwadar-Khunjerab-Kashgar rail network. The project had been discussed during talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in his recent visit to Pakistan.

While PM Sharif said the actual details of the project would be shared at a later date, he also stated that both countries will soon establish a taskforce to complete the project within the next five years, indicating that it may be implemented on a fast-track basis.

The successful implementation of the Gwadar-Khunjerab-Kashgar rail network will help China secure oil supply and commercial routes on the Indian Ocean, furthering its plans to secure yet another strategic energy and trade corridor. Besides, the project is expected to provide a major boost to Pakistan’s sinking economy.