China has stepped up its military preparations by enlarging a large-scale replica of Taipei’s government buildings at the Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia. Satellite images show that the mock site has expanded to nearly three times its original size since 2020, raising concerns over Beijing’s growing pressure on Taiwan, news agency ANI reported, citing report of the Japanese Institute for National Fundamentals and Taipei Times.
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The images reveal replicas of major government institutions, including Taiwan’s Presidential Office Building, the Judicial Yuan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and most recently, the Ministry of Defense’s Reserve Command. A notable addition is a 280-kilometre tunnel linking the mock Presidential Office Building to the Judicial Yuan, seen as a symbolic message that Taiwan’s leaders could not take refuge underground in the event of an attack.The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been constructing and using such mock facilities for more than a decade. In 2015, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV aired footage of PLA drills at the replica Presidential Office Building.More recent satellite images from 2022 and 2023 show Chinese troops practicing urban warfare, including setting up and dismantling roadblocks and advancing with armoured units.Experts note that these activities are not merely symbolic. They reflect President Xi Jinping’s longstanding emphasis on “realistic combat training.”Since taking charge of the Central Military Commission in 2012, Xi has directed the PLA to improve battlefield simulations, a message reinforced in 2018 when he addressed soldiers in military uniform and urged them to be ready for real combat.Analysts believe the expansion of the “mock Taipei” serves two main purposes: refining China’s military strategy for a possible Taiwan invasion and waging psychological warfare by making these preparations highly visible. For Taiwan, the replica city deep inside Inner Mongolia underlines Beijing’s determination to apply both military and symbolic pressure, underscoring the need for heightened vigilance in the Taiwan Strait.
