Phone and internet lines have been cut in Namtou : Myanmar

Residents said that the military council cut off all telephone and internet lines in Namtu, northern Shan State, on December 26.

MPT phone lines were down today, said a security official who fled the war on December 25 from Namthu.

"The Mytel phone line has been down since December 24th, and the MPT phone line has been down since this evening. That's why we can't use the phone lines or Wi-Fi devices in Namtu. We can't contact those who are still in the city."

Previously, only two phone lines, Mytel and MPT, could be used in Namthu. ATOM phone lines called Ooredoo and Telenor have been unusable since before.

Residents said that all communication in Namthu town has been cut off as both Mytel and MPT phone lines have been cut.

RFA reached out to Shan State spokesman U Khun Thein Maung, Minister of Economy, regarding the cutting of phone and Internet access to Namttu, but there was no response.

Due to the intense fighting in Namthu, almost all residents have fled their homes and only a few of the caretakers remain in the city.

From the early morning of December 26th, the sounds of shooting and attacks were heard in Namthu town, as seen in the video files uploaded by some of the remaining residents before the phone lines were cut.

According to the military council, there were airstrikes during the Battle of Namthu, and some houses in the town were burnt down due to these attacks. In addition, it is said that a school building at Namthu Basic Education High School was also burnt down. RFA has not been able to independently confirm the damage caused by the fire.

On the evening of December 25, two civilians were killed in an airstrike by the Military Council, according to local residents, and Taang Women's Organization (TWO) issued a statement.

China is secretly rebuilding its secret nuclear test site at Lopnur

China has begun secretly rebuilding the Lop Nur nuclear test site, which conducted at least 45 nuclear tests before detonating its first atomic bomb nearly 60 years ago and ceasing nuclear tests in 1996. Changes to the reconstruction of the Lop Nur nuclear test base were revealed in a report by Renny Babiarz, a former analyst with the US Department of Defense's Space Geographic Intelligence Agency and an expert on China's nuclear program and satellite reconnaissance.

A New York Times op-ed on the subject published on December 21 detailed a new research report by Rani Babiaris. Rani Babiariz's satellite images revealed that a drilling rig recently dug a vertical well about one kilometer deep at the Lopnur nuclear test site. This is considered strong evidence that Beijing is considering whether to test a new generation of nuclear weapons that would increase its rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal.

While the U.S. government and independent experts have expressed vague concerns about the old nuclear test site at Lop Nur, satellite images of the site now show that China has drilled new wells at the site, while at the same time undergoing hundreds of renovations and expansion projects at the site. known to have taken place. The newly drilled wells will reportedly be used to contain deadly radiation flare-ups from a catastrophic nuclear explosion.

Zhao Tong, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Center for the Advancement of International Peace in Washington, said that public data shows that China is technically preparing for a nuclear test. Zhao Tong said in an exclusive interview on December 21: "We can see from the latest public data that if China makes a political decision to resume nuclear testing, it is making technical preparations to buy time. "On the other hand, this means that if the political decision is made to start nuclear tests, it will need to be completed in a shorter period of time."

According to Zhao Tong, the changes seen in the tunnels at the Lopnur test site are an indication that China is considering a powerful nuclear explosion. "The most striking evidence we saw at the test site," Zhao Tong says, "along with the linear underground tunnels that China has been building at its nuclear test site for decades, seems to have dug very deep vertical wells into the surrounding mountainous terrain." These vertical wells dug by China appear to be very deep. It may be hundreds of meters deep. This is a sign that China is considering a large-scale nuclear explosion. "Because for a large-scale nuclear explosion, you need relatively deep vertical wells."

The Ushshaqtal (Malan in Chinese) is the base for the Chinese government's nuclear test site, and the three square kilometer base consists of many buildings and technical facilities. Reports that China is rebuilding a nuclear test site that may in fact be preparing for a nuclear test are troubling Uyghur organizations. They claim that the heavy radiation spread during more than 30 years of nuclear tests at the base has caused serious damage to the surrounding environment and the health of Uyghur residents, as well as an increase in various types of cancer among Uyghur. The explosion of the Lopnur nuclear test base on December 12, 1985 was one of the reasons for the largest-scale university student protests in the history of the Uyghur region. At the time, the students demanded the closure of the Lopnur nuclear test site and medical treatment for the victims of the nuclear tests, but it was denied that the nuclear tests had harmed the local people. Although the Chinese government stopped nuclear testing in 1996, the nuclear test site still exists.

The former president of "Uyghur Academy" and nuclear physicist Abdul Hamit Karakhan emphasized in our interview on December 22nd that although China stopped nuclear tests in 1996, it never gave up on its plans, and the base is still a potential threat to the health of Uyghurs. It shows that it continues as Abdulhamit Karakhan also said that if the Chinese government re-engages in nuclear competition like it did during the Cold War, the consequences will be dire for the Uyghur people and other peoples in the region.

The New York Times reported that more than 30 buildings have been constructed or renovated at the sprawling base since 2017. At the same time, a road of about 150 kilometers was built along the southwest to the old nuclear test site. Satellite images show tens of kilometers of new dirt roads have been built east of Lopnur, and at least one of the linear underground tunnels used in previous nuclear tests has been re-excavated and rebuilt. The report said the high-level security measures at the test site, including underground shelters and safety barriers, were consistent with handling high-explosion and nuclear devices. The report also states that new roads have been added to the old roads in the test area of ​​the satellite images, and about 50 kilometers of new roads have been added to the new area in the eastern mountains.

Zhao Tong of the "Carnegie Institute for International Peace" said that although the United States is an important reason for China's preparation for nuclear tests, there are other factors. He said he also hopes to obtain more nuclear explosion data through China's nuclear tests. Zhao Tong said about this: "China needs the data obtained from its nuclear tests in order to upgrade its existing nuclear warheads or, if necessary, build new nuclear warheads. In this regard, China is far behind the United States and Russia. "So, this may be leading China to obtain more data by resuming its nuclear tests, albeit for technical reasons."

After the Cold War, the Chinese government stopped the nuclear test in Lop Nur and maintained the level of nuclear weapons of France and Britain, but with Xi Jinping's ascension to the throne in 2012, not only did his policy in the Uyghur region change fundamentally, but his nuclear weapons policy also underwent a fundamental change.

In 2015, Xi Jinping started building missile forces and expanding his nuclear arsenal. According to the US Department of Defense, China's nuclear warheads may reach 1,500 by 2035. Renee Babiariz told The New York Times that deep wells had been dug in the grounds of the nuclear test site, as well as new roads, power lines, voltage regulators and back-office buildings.