The War can begin

China deploys long-range nuclear-capable missiles to coast in response to U.S. 'aggression'
By Rachel Roberts 

China has moved long-range missiles to the Russian border from where they could reach the USA, apparently in response to President Donald Trump’s "aggression", unconfirmed reports say.
The missiles, which can carry ten nuclear warheads up to 8,700 miles, have reportedly been moved to Heilongjiang province in north-east China.
A leading English language newspaper in the communist country carried an editorial urging the country to strengthen its nuclear arsenal to ‘"force" the US to respect China in the wake of the new President’s tough talk.
The Global Times – which is state controlled like all Chinese media and used to road-test public opinion -- this week called on the Government to boost its nuclear arsenal.
The editorial said: “Before Trump took power, his team showed a tough stance toward China, and in turn, Beijing will ready itself for pressures imposed by the new US Government.”
And it added: “China bears the heavy task of safeguarding national security. Nuclear deterrence is the foundation of China's national security, which must be consolidated with the rising strategic risks.”
It said nuclear weapons must be at the cornerstone of Chinese deterrent.
The call is in stark contrast to a speech given by Xi Jinping to the United Nations just days earlier, where he called for nuclear weapons to be “prohibited and destroyed over time”.
Chinese social media has carried pictures claiming to show an advanced intercontinental ballistic missile system, Dongfeng-41 in the north-east.
The Global Times suggested the People’s Liberation Army could have leaked the photos on social media as a warning to Mr Trump.
The President, who has been in office for less than a week, has ruffled Chinese feathers with talk on trade and national security.
In one of the campaign debates with Hillary Clinton, he blamed China for stealing US jobs from Americans, for devaluing the dollar and for engaging in state-sponsored cyberhacking.
Mr Trump said: “Look at what China is doing to our country. They are using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China.”
He also said on Twitter back in 2012 that global warming was “a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese” – but has since said that was meant in jest.
Before he took office, Mr Trump accused China of flexing its muscles in the disputed territory of the South China Sea.
Mr Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said last week China's access to the islands it has built there must be blocked.
The US does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign nation, but in December Mr Trump became the first US President since Jimmy Carter in 1979 to speak on the telephone to Taiwan’s leader, President Tsai Ing-wen.
Relations between the two countries have generally been stable but with some periods of conflict – most notably in the Vietnam and Korean Wars.
Mr Trump has urged China to use its influence to rein in North Korea, which has conducted at least two tests of nuclear weapons in the last year.

China reportedly deploys ICBMs near Russia’s border

RT

A military vehicle carrying a DongFeng long-range ballistic missile.
Beijing has deployed advanced Dongfeng-41 ICBMs in Heilongjiang Province, which borders Russia, according to reports based on images, possibly leaked to coincide with Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
“Pictures of China's Dongfeng-41 ballistic missile were exposed on Chinese mainland websites,” the Global Times said citing reports in “some Hong Kong and Taiwan media.”

Russian news agencies identified one of them as the Apple Daily, a Hong Kong-based tabloid-style resource.
“It was revealed that the pictures were taken in Heilongjiang Province. Military analysts believe that this is perhaps the second Dongfeng-41 strategic missile brigade and it should be deployed in northeastern China,” the report in the Chinese daily adds. 

The Global Times works under the auspices of the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, though the former tends to be more controversial.
The DF-41 is a three-stage solid-propellant missile, which is estimated to have a range of up to 15,000km and be capable of delivering up to 10 MIRVed nuclear warheads. 

China is yet to show the ICBM to the general public during a military parade or any similar event. Most information of the advanced weapon remains highly classified.
There is speculation that China plans to deploy at least three brigades of DF-41s throughout the country. 

The image leak may have been timed with Trump’s inauguration, with the new president expected to take a confrontational stance towards China, according to the Global Times’ report.
Before taking office he angered Beijing by threatening to end the ‘One China policy’, which acknowledges continental China as the only Chinese nation and rejects Taiwan’s claim to be one. 

He also said he would pressure Beijing on economic issues like its monetary policy and trade barriers.
China routinely uses demonstration of its military prowess to send signals to challengers like the US. For instance, it tested a railcar-launched version of the DF-41 in December 2016 just as then-Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis deployed in the South China Sea.
The alleged deployment of the DF-41 near Russia’s border should not be read as a threat to Russia, military analyst Konstantin Sivkov told RIA Novosti.
“DF-41 missiles placed near Russia’s border are a smaller threat than if they were placed deeper in the Chinese territory. Such missiles usually have a very large ‘dead zone’ [area within minimal range that cannot be attacked by a weapon],” he said, adding that the ICBMs would not be able to target Russia’s Far East and most of Eastern Siberia from the Heilongjiang Province.
The Kremlin agreed with the assessment, saying that China is Russia’s “strategic partner in political and economic senses.”
“Certainly, the actions of the Chinese military, if the reports prove correct, the military build-up in China is not perceived as a threat to our country,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.